Sunlight House, Manchester

Winner of the Insider: “Commercial office project of the year” award.
A Grade II listed building, working closely with Historic England, Sunlight House was a technically challenging project due to a number of challenges. One example was having to work in a live environment, ensuring safe ingress and egress for 2000 people per day while undertaking extensive temporary and structural alteration works to the external façade and the interior of the building.
A second example was that Ardmac had to undertake the complete refurbishment of a large external stained glass and cast iron Victorian dome above the health club’s swimming pool, while people continued to swim below safely during the restoration.

This was achieved by installing a hermetically sealed engineered scaffold crash deck to provide a working platform and safety for the swimmers below. SpaceInvader’s contemporary design was all about sophistication and the highest specifications of quality and finish. This was abundantly evident in the final result. The works comprised of:

–  Three floors of Cat A including cores and all new energy-efficient lighting and M&ET.
–  The demolition of the former Grapes pub and adjoining reception areas to form one large entrance.
–  Extensive alterations to form the new two-storey reception and lift lobbies, including major alterations to the front façade of the listed building opening up apertures to receive structural glass.
–  The laying of the high specification terrazzo flooring, extensive bespoke joinery, feature lighting.
–  Spray applied Sonos acoustic treatments to feature raft ceilings.
–  The installation of a new cafeteria breakout facility and open meeting area.

“The significant capital expenditure at Sunlight House by Aberdeen Standard Investments has ensured this impeccably restored historic property has a bright future as a hub of high quality office space. The planned reception works will take it to the next level and further enhance the building’s appeal to professional occupiers seeking city centre space.

 

Savills