A family-owned Manchester-founded property company that owns, lets and manages offices, labs, retail and coworking space across eight UK regions.
Bruntwood is a commercial property company. It owns, lets and manages offices, labs, retail space and coworking space, and describes itself as connecting customers with "the spaces, support and people to help you grow". It runs two brands: Bruntwood Places, which offers mixed office, retail, leisure and coworking space in city and town centres, and Bruntwood SciTech, which offers office and lab space for innovation-led businesses on specialist campuses. Its own figures say it has 127 buildings, about 6.85 million square feet of property and 2,189 customers across eight regions.
The company says its vision is building vibrant communities while giving businesses the services, support and expertise they need to grow. Its purpose is built around three areas: sustainability, with a preference for recycling existing buildings over rebuilding and an aim of a net zero future; a more equal society, working with local partners to create equal working opportunities; and cultural vibrancy, working with local artists and organisations. It reports having delivered £203m of social value in 2024/25. It also supports local communities through the Oglesby Charitable Trust.
Bruntwood was founded in 1970 by Mike Oglesby, who moved to Manchester and began with a small industrial break-up business before turning to refurbishing offices in unloved city-centre buildings. He was an early champion of flexible office space within a portfolio, letting customers grow, shrink or change, and moved the company from a landlord-and-tenant model towards a customer-service model. By the time he died, it owned about 20% of Manchester's commercial floor space. His son Chris took over as chief executive in 1998. The company remains family owned and has its headquarters at Union, Albert Square, Manchester.
Bruntwood's locations are in Manchester, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham and Cambridge. They include Manchester Science Park, The Exchange and Melbourn Science Park. It bought Alderley Park, a 400-acre former AstraZeneca site in Cheshire, with partners in 2014. Chris Oglesby has said he favours reusing existing buildings over greenfield development because retained buildings make places more interesting. The company says its spaces are designed with employee wellbeing first and offer events and networking, which are its own claims.
People at Bruntwood work in customer and property teams, building management and facilities, lettings and sales, science and innovation support, community and events, sustainability, design, development, and finance, legal and technology functions. If you like the idea of working in a city you know and helping it change, a regional property company like this is a strong example. The company's website is the place to see how its Places and SciTech teams are currently arranged.
Website: bruntwood.co.uk
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