Elior UK has been awarded a five-year contract to create and manage a new food and retail offer at Hunter Real Estate Investment Managers’ (Hunter) Exchange Quay development in Salford Quays, Greater Manchester.

The project at the 433,637 sq ft office complex is part of a wider, £10m refurbishment programme to upgrade the six office buildings at the site to Grade A specification.

Elior is working with Exchange Quay’s project team to develop new catering and hospitality facilities including a restaurant with live cooking theatre, a Costa Coffee branded coffee outlet and a Londis Retail Shop at the development. As part of its contract Elior will also provide a hospitality service to Exchange Quay, which will cater for meetings, events and functions.

All of Elior UK’s catering concepts will be available at the onsite restaurant including Heavenly Burger, build-your-own soup offer Umami and ChU*, its world cuisine brand.

Andrew Moffat, fund manager at Hunter, said: “We chose Elior to manage the new amenity offering due to the team’s strong track record and its understanding of what we are striving to create at Exchange Quay. Work is well underway to create the high quality office accommodation. It’s exciting to be working up the plans for the new food and retail offer and to see how another key element of the development is progressing.”

Tony Winterbottom, sales director, at Elior UK, added: “We’re delighted to be working with the Exchange Quay team on this high profile development, as part of its revival. The new catering and retail amenities will introduce a host of modern facilities for occupiers and visitors to enjoy.”

The full works at Exchange Quay are due to be completed in Q3 2015.

Current business tenants at Exchange Quay include Winning Pitch, Kin-Tec Electronics and Sage, while GlaxoSmithkline Research & Development (GSK) and Boxchange Associates have recently signed five-year leases.