Overhaul of Manchester’s CIS Tower back on under fresh leadership

Asset and development manager Lenrose Ventures is working up proposals to bring the city’s first skyscraper back into use almost four years after the last plan to refurbish the 28-storey building was floated.

Lenrose has replaced Castlebrooke Investments on the project. The company is headed up by former Castlebrooke director James Moores and Jack Martin – son of former Southend United owner Ron Martin.

Lenrose is preparing to submit a planning application later this year for the comprehensive redevelopment of the CIS Tower.

The building will require significant investment to bring it up to the standards expected of the modern-day office occupier and deliver what one Place source with knowledge of the scheme described as a “monster” project.

Lenrose, which was contacted for comment, is being advised by CBRE.

News of movement on the CIS Tower project after years of stagnation will be welcomed by built environment enthusiasts keen to see the asset – once Europe’s third tallest building – given a new lease of life after previous false dawns.

The asset was acquired by Jersey-based SPV Devonshire (CIS Tower) Limited for £66m in 2017.

Before the pandemic, Castlebrooke, acting for the SPV, lodged plans to refurbish the building and secured a £60m loan from Trafford Council for the project.

That scheme, designed by SimpsonHaugh Architects, was reimagined post-Covid and branded as Society.

The 2021 plans proposed splitting the 425,000 sq ft building into three distinct zones:

• Tower – 143,527 sq ft of workspace across 26 floors
• Podium – 207,379 sq ft of the billed at the time as the “largest and most flexible office floorplates in Manchester”.
• Street – food and beverage, retail, and leisure amenities at street level.

However, the project did not progress and Castlebrooke sought to sell the building in 2022.

Speaking at the time, a spokesperson for the firm said it had “worked strategically alongside core stakeholders to put measures in place to deliver what is now believed to be the best ‘oven-ready’ redevelopment opportunity in Manchester”. Adding that its plans had “brought about interest from investors/developers across the globe”.

It is understood the building was not sold and remains under the ownership of the Jersey-based SPV.

The redevelopment of the CIS Tower – built in the 1960s and currently vacant after the departure of Cooperative Insurance – is one of many large-scale office refurb projects currently in the pipeline in Manchester.

Others include Parthena Reys’ revamp of One Hardman Boulevard and AM Alpha’s conversion of the former Debenhams department store on Market Street into workspace.