GMC spurs 1COR's Manchester move

Civil set One Crown Office Row (1COR) has launched an annexe in Manchester in response to its increasing workload in the region.

The new base in the St James' Building, Oxford Street, is the home of a growing number of General Medical Council (GMC) hearing rooms.

Philip Havers QC, 1COR head of chambers, said the driving force behind the new annexe had been the prog-ressive transfer of the GMC's professional disciplinary work from London to Manchester.

"Our members are spending hundreds of days a year with clients at the GMC in Manchester and we need to be in a position to provide them with the best possible level of service," said Havers. "This excellent facility is just what we and they need as a base during GMC hearings."

The premises, which includes a conference room, will be an unmanned facility at this stage and will act only as a base for meetings with clients and an office for barristers when in Manchester.

Bob Wilson, 1COR chambers director, said the new annexe is very different from the set's large existing annexe in Brighton, where 35 barristers and six support staff are based. "We're reacting to the need to maintain service standards for our existing clients in an area of work which is important for us," said Wilson of the Manchester annexe. "Client demand will dictate how we might further develop a Manchester presence in the longer term."