More than 100 people attended the launch of Beech Holdings’ new city centre headquarters last night.

Sir Howard Bernstein, Manchester council chief executive, was among the guests and gave a speech after being given a guided tour of the office by the company’s founder Stephen Beech.

It comes after Stephen – the owner of £65m worth of residential housing stock in Greater Manchester including 17 significant city centre buildings – invested £1 million in the 9,000 sq ft office on Oxford Street.

Speaking in front of bankers, suppliers, journalists, property developers and members of the professional services community, Sir Howard paid tribute to Beech Holdings’ “unique offering” in the residential property market.

“I wanted to be here to congratulate Stephen and his team and everyone who is associated with, what I think, is a unique offering,” said Sir Howard.

“It’s really good that the market in Manchester can actually embrace innovative approaches like this.”

Sir Howard also used the occasion to speak about Brexit and was adamant that Manchester will continue to grow.

“I spent the last couple of weeks saying that ‘we are open for business’, notwithstanding some of the outcomes around the Brexit vote which we are all still trying to understand,” he said.

“It’s clear also that we face political uncertainty over the next couple of months. But the one thing I’m actually clear about, is that that’s not going to deflect Manchester from its growth path and strategic direction.  That’s as long as we continue to work together and talk Manchester up – never talk Manchester down.

“We’ve also got to actually remain very steadfast in our approach about how we continue to move this city forward.

“So I want to congratulate Stephen and his team again and everyone here, not only for what you’ve done tonight, in helping to make this business work, but more particularly for what you do to make our city grow even bigger and stronger in the future.”

Stephen Beech also gave a speech on the night, after revealing that the company had committed to a 20-year lease on the 60 Oxford Street headquarters.

He referenced the journey the company had been on during the past 15 years and spoke about his desire to continue to buy unloved, forgotten buildings in prime locations in Manchester city centre and create environmentally sustainable and efficiently designed apartments.

Following the event, Manchester-born Stephen said: “It was fantastic to have Sir Howard at our launch along with so many people we have gotten to know over the years.

“It’s a very exciting time for Beech Holdings. The new headquarters 60 Oxford Street symbolises our ambitions. The face and the brand of the lettings is Manchester Apartments while the back of the office is Beech Holdings very much delivering at a corporate level. We’ve invested a lot of time and energy into creating what is a bold office and one that is located perfectly for people who want to walk in off the street and talk to us.”

He added: “We now employ more than 80 people, some of whom have lived in my city centre apartments and have come full circle and now work for me.

“As I said during my speech, we are staying in Manchester and will continue to be an investor in the city. It was just great to have so many people at the event who we could share our story with.”