Listed Australian firm Slater & Gordon has announced it will open its new flagship Manchester office in early 2015.

The premises in Mosley Street will be the firm’s largest office anywhere in the world, as well as the largest office of any legal firm in Manchester.

More than 700 staff will be moving into the new location, which takes up around 105,000 square feet.

According to a notice placed by commercial property agent CBRE, the business rates and service charges for the property are estimated at £12.51 per square foot – putting the annual rental cost at more than £1.3m.

Employees have worked from various locations in the city since the acquisition of Fentons Solicitors and Pannone in recent months.

Refurbishment of the seven-storey building will now start, with a ground floor ‘community space’ included for meeting with clients and the local community.

Neil Kinsella, the firm’s UK head, said: ‘Our feedback from clients and prospective clients is that they want lawyers and legal advice to be accessible. The high street community space will be an area where members of the local community can just drop in, talk to a lawyer over a coffee and access legal information and resources in an approachable and relaxing environment.’

Slater & Gordon now has offices in 17 locations across the UK and 70 in Australia. The firm, which listed in Australia in 2007, arrived in the UK with the acquisition of Russell Jones & Walker in 2012.

Slater & Gordon said in February its UK operation made almost £40m in revenue last year. The firm expects this to grow to almost £70m in 2014.

The firm also has plans to bolster its management team, advertising for a new chief operating officer after promoting the previous COO Cath Evans to chief executive. 

According to the job description, the chosen person will have 'an outstanding track record in the professional services or retail sector’ and ‘experience in integration/change management’.