Mancunian developers were as quick to build new offices during the last years of the property boom as any in the UK but so far the breadth of occupier demand has left the city office market comparatively sound.

Last year saw near record offices take-up of 1.1m sq ft, from 932,700 sq ft in 2007 according to Knight Frank, an impressive performance given the onset of the economic recession. The period also saw an increase in prime rents of 18 per cent.