PRESTON-based Marcus Worthington Properties have submitted major plans for a new £70m scheme on Deansgate.
It's a shame to see Holford Associates' bold, glass-clad, postmodern Lincoln House (completed in 1986) demolished at 123-127 Deansgate - formerly the home of Pannone Solicitors - to make way for a fairly insipid mixed-use development comprising 113,500 sq ft of office space and 12,100 sq ft of retail.
Paying homage to the industrial character of Deansgate with its red Victorian architecture...
The new scheme - expected to commence in Summer 2016 - sits opposite the John Rylands Library and forms part of wider plans to redevelop Manchester's dreary Brazennose Street and Lincoln Square.
Glenn Howells Architects - the firm behind Manchester's £50m One St Peter's Square and Salford's Vimto Gardens - have been appointed designers while Savills will market the new build.
Dav Bansal, director at Glenn Howells, said:
"Paying homage to the industrial character of Deansgate with its red Victorian architecture, we are delighted with the contemporary yet strikingly calm approach to the design that compliments the centrepiece Grade I-listed John Ryland Library within this pivotal setting.
"It marks a significant opportunity on Deansgate and is a catalyst for the transformation of this area."
Let's hope the end product improves upon the render.
Shame to see this '80's crystal palace go on Deansgate...
...where's the imagination?
