Bruntwood have exchanged contracts with existing customers, The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), for a further 25,000 sq ft at Piccadilly’s City Tower development. NICE have agreed a deal with Bruntwood that ties into their existing lease for the 22,000 sq ft they took at City Tower in 2007.

Business planning and resources director at NICE, Ben Bennett, said "We’re delighted to be to take this additional space at City Tower. NICE’s role in setting the standards for good healthcare in this country is growing and with our additional responsibilities has come the need for expansion. Increasing the size of our Manchester office is the most cost effective way for us to meet that need.”

“As well as benefiting from good value accommodation, we’ll be able to draw on the diverse and skilled workforce of Manchester and the surrounding area. The availability of the vacant space on the same floor plate as our existing office has proved perfect for our expansion plans. Also, Bruntwood’s flexibility to align the new arrangements with our existing lease helped simplify the deal tremendously."

Bruntwood sales director, Andrew Butterworth, said, “This deal shows the continued confidence the market has in both our product and the Piccadilly area. It’s also another great example of how we can accommodate the expansion needs of existing customers all under the same lease agreement. Now at City Tower, we only have one floor of 8,500 sq ft remaining out of a possible 610,000 sq ft.

This deal takes NICE’s occupation to 47,000 sq ft on a single floor and results in the complete occupation of the largest floor plate in Manchester’s city centre. Bruntwood will be project managing the fit-out on behalf of NICE in preparation for their occupation in May 2009.