Manchester's building boom continues as plans progress for 1261 more apartments
Manchester’s current building boom shows no sign of slowing, as developers continue to take advantage of the low interest loans provided by Greater Manchester’s £300m housing fund.
Residential developments in central Manchester are now at their highest level since the 2008, with Deloitte reporting earlier this year that almost 7000 new residential units were currently under construction, with plenty more in the pipeline.
Here are six residential schemes in the city centre which each took major steps forward this week:
Manchester New Square - The Village
Urban & Civic are finally due to commence work on the corner of Whitworth Street and Princess Street, having acquired the one acre site in December 2014. Earlier designs by SimpsonHaugh - which included two apartment blocks and a 4* hotel - were scrapped due to ‘commercial viability’, and have been replaced with new plans for three blocks comprising 351 high-end apartments, a landscaped square and ground level units for restaurants and retailers. The first block due for completion at Manchester New Square is the 117-apartment Carding Building, which will soon become available off-plan with eyes on a 2019 finish.
Ask Towers - Albion Street
Ask Real Estate have submitted plans for another SimpsonHaugh-designed scheme, this time a huge new 40-storey tower on Albion Street. Located on the site of the old Bauer Millet garage next to Beetham Tower, the lofty new 350-apartment tower will be accompanied by a 14-storey office building and ‘exciting’ new bar, restaurant and retail space, which the developer hopes will ‘bring people back into the arches and create an active frontage along Great Bridgewater Street’. A key component of the scheme will be the removal of sections of the existing bridge on Great Bridgewater Street, allowing for ‘significant improvement’ to pedestrianised areas and ‘natural light down to street level, creating a more welcoming place’.
Manchester Life x3 - Ancoats
Manchester Life - a joint venture between the council and Man City owners the Abu Dhabi United Group - have this week moved on plans for three more Ancoats developments. With projects already underway at Murrays’ Mills, Blossom Street, New Union Street, Jersey Street and Hood Street, the JV have now released plans for two more schemes at New Little Mill (part of the Murrays’ Mill complex) and Lampwick Street, and submitted plans for another residential scheme on Vesta Street - opposite the Chips building.
PRP-designed plans for the grade II-listed New Little Mill include 68 apartments with an additional two storeys added to the five storey building, which will retain its facade but gain an internal steel frame and central courtyard. The 1.5 acre Lampwick plot - off Old Mill Street - has been earmarked for a modern, six-storey, 213-apartment canalside scheme by Callison RTKL, with 3,000 sq ft of commercial space looking out over the listed Ancoats Dispensary. Both developments are currently in public consultation, with planning applications expected by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Manchester Life has also submitted plans for the 171-home Rafael Vinoly-designed residential scheme on the Vesta site, between Chips and Islington Wharf on Ashton Canal Basin.
Excelsior Mill - Castlefield
Mulbury has submitted £26m plans to convert the abandoned Excelsior Mill on Hulme Hall Road, Castlefield into an eight storey, 108-apartment development by Tim Groom architects. The scheme - which runs along the Bridgewater Canal - sits on the site of a former printing and book binding works, which had to be demolished following a partial collapse in 2015.
