Amazon is to move to Manchester, to the Hanover Building in the city’s Northern Quarter. This is where 600 highly-skilled workers will concentrate their efforts on software development, machine learning and research and development.

Hanover House was refurbished for £34m by contractor Russells and designed by Sheppard Robson. There are 90,000 sq ft of offices as well as an additional 18,000 sq ft of retail and leisure at ground floor level. On Amazon’s part, the deal was represented by Cushman and Wakefield, while JLL and Colliers are the agents on Hanover.

Amazon’s move had been ongoing for over a year and was codenamed as ‘Project Oasis’. Other options rumoured to host Amazon’s office space were No8 First Street and One St Peter’s Square, but the former saw a delay in its completion date while the latter has filled up.

Doug Gurr, UK country manager at Amazon said: “With the UK taking a leading role in the global tech, we are delighted to announce plans to open a new corporate office in the city. Our new office will be home to over 600 staff, many of whom will be focused on developing exciting new products and services used by Amazon customers around the world.

“The city offers an incredibly talented workforce and a budding tech scene with some of the most exciting, fast-growing tech companies in the UK situated here.”

The online retail store confirmed plans to expand its development centres in both Edinburgh and Cambridge, which, in addition to its Manchester move, will create more than 1,000 research and development jobs.

In Edinburgh, workers in Edinburgh will focus on advertising technology and personalised shopping – while workers in Cambridge will concentrate on Amazon devices such as the Echo.

Amazon said that it plans to employ a total of 27,500 employees by the end of the year.

Secretary of State for International Trade, The Rt Hon Liam Fox MP, said: "Ensuring that the world's best and brightest companies continue to invest and innovate in the UK is at the heart of our Global Britain agenda.

"Amazon's decision to create hundreds of highly-skilled jobs in Manchester, Edinburgh and Cambridge is an enormous vote of confidence in the UK and a signal to the world that the UK is very much open for business."