IT'S THE largest speculative office development Southampton has seen since Margaret Thatcher resigned as prime minister.

Now the heat is on to lure some big-name companies to the city as gold-standard tenants.

More than 1,000 property businesses across London and the south-east are being targeted in a campaign to market the £25m landmark building at Charlotte Place as the place to be.

Southampton based Joint agents Humberts and Savills are teasing commercial property agents with a postcard campaign of panoramic pictures taken from the top of the nine-storey building.

The direct mail activity is just a prelude to an aggressive national advertising campaign, which will begin later this month.

The 83,000 sq ft development by the McAleer and Rushe Group is on track for completion in October this year.

The building would make an ideal corporate headquarters for a single occupier looking for a high-profile city centre presence, or a number of smaller occupiers.

The last speculative project of a similar size in the city was Mountbatten House at Grosvenor Square in 1990.

Andrew Archibald, senior associate with Humberts, said: "This McAleer and Rushe Group development is the largest speculative office development Southampton has seen for 15 years and we have already received expressions of interest from potential occupiers.

"Charlotte Place is appealing to businesses who want to have a visible presence in the city.

"The teaser campaign has been designed to highlight the development's prime city centre location and the stunning views available from its balconies and upper floors.

"We are deliberately targeting a host of other agents who work with businesses across the county to introduce the building to them."

The first phase of the Charlotte Place transformation is due for completion in May, with the opening of the new 270-bed Jurys Inn Hotel, which is being run by Ireland's leading hotel group, Jurys Doyle Hotels.

The office complex stands at the gateway to the city centre and has raised access floors and air conditioning, with some car parking.

Martin Hastelow of joint letting agents Savills said: "The increasing return of confidence to the office lettings market has been further reinforced by McAleer and Rushe's decision to expand the office development from 60,000 to 83,000 sq ft.

"With a highly-competitive rent we anticipate there will be a great deal of interest from occupiers."

It is generally accepted that there is a dearth of upmarket office space in Southampton, where rents fetch about £20 a square foot.