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Will Lighthouse be beacon for jobs at Quays?

24/12/2002

SALFORD Quays is to receive yet another prime office development with work starting on a luxury new block which could be a beacon for local jobs.

The Lighthouse, containing over 66,000 sq ft of floor space, is being built next to Furness House by the Anchorage Quay.

Developers Furness Withy want the £16.5m development to become the headquarters for a major company, and say up to 1,000 people could be employed in the building if it used as a call centre.

They say the average number of people expected to be employed there otherwise is 750, but accept the figure could be 250 if it used by a smaller company.

Whoever moves into the building will be joined by other big name firms such as BUPA, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, who have made the Quays their home, while Marks and Spencer also recently announced they were expanding there.

The development, due to be completed next November, will also be a stone's throw away from the prestigious Lowry arts centre and its neighbouring Designer Outlet Mall.

It will contain the largest unbroken area of office space in the Quays with five floors, some containing up to 17,000 sq ft of office space.

However, the icing on the cake for business executives will be the luxury top floor which will be taken up by a huge circular boardroom, with a balcony offering a 360 degree view of the Quays.

Patrick Joynson, associate director of agents FPD Savills said: "The Lighthouse has been designed with productivity in mind and will bring employment to the Quays which is rapidly becoming one of the most desirable business environments in the North West."