Erinaceous dropped from Spinningfields instruction

The agents were informed this week that they will jointly handle the leasing of one of the largest and most prestigious office letting instructions at the north-west scheme.

JLL, headed by north-west of England chairman Bob Dyson, was previously retained on the scheme along with Erinaceous which has been dropped from the instruction in favour of DTZ. Well-known Manchester figure, Ken Bishop, head of DTZ, will head its team advising Allied London.

The news will be a serious blow to Erinaceous, headed by Peter Gallagher, one of the most highly regarded agents in Manchester and a figure long associated with the scheme’s success. It is the second high-profile instruction it has lost following developer Ask dropping it from its £110m St Petersfield development in Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester in April. Lambert Smith Hampton replaced it on the 400,000 sq ft scheme and Cushman & Wakefield was retained as joint letting agent.

Peter Gallagher, north-west head of agency at Erinaceous, said: 'The emergence of the Spinningfields business district is changing the map of Manchester and I am proud of our involvement in making just a little piece of history in my own city. While naturally I am disappointed that my work on this project has now come to an end, it’s clearly time for us both to move on. I am sure Spinningfields will continue to enjoy success and my team will go on doing what it does best – being at the very top of it’s game in the local and regional markets.'

Cushman & Wakefield, which is trying to establish a dominant position in Manchester also pitched for the instruction led by Jeff Cushman – a descendant of the firm’s co-founder J Clydesdale Cushman. C&W recently won the instruction to advise Blackrock, the property arm of Merrill Lynch, on its 50,000 sq ft Bauhaus office scheme in Manchester’s Quay Street. It also advises Town Centre Securities, with Lambert Smith Hampton, on its 350,000 sq ft Piccadilly Basin scheme in the city.