St John’s Architect Announced & Kampus Plans Submitted

TWO major city centre schemes have today taken crucial steps forward.

The three landmark towers, ranging between 35 and 50 storeys, will total over 900 apartments

Property developers Allied London have unveiled Melbourne-based international architects, Denton Corker Marshall (DCM) – the firm behind Manchester’s flamboyant Civil Justice Centre – as the winners of a competition to design three residential towers within the £1.35bn St John’s neighbourhood.

Allied London boss, Mike Ingall, said DCM – who have previously collaborated with Allied on 28 Savile Row and 20 Cannon Street in London – had provided the ‘best architectural solution to a difficult brief’.

The three landmark towers (pictured above), ranging between 35 and 50 storeys, will total over 900 apartments within the 25-acre St John’s development, which will also see the construction of the £110m Factory Manchester arts centre, three hotels and over 2000 new homes (see the masterplan here).

Ingall said: “Designing residential towers in Beta cities like Manchester is a challenge within the context of our design values, ‎so we required very experienced and thoughtful architects who understood our core objectives.

“We are bringing a new product to a new market and we can't fall short of our design standards. DCM gave us a complete architectural solution that will be exciting and effective.”

St John’s should begin construction in March 2017.

The new Kampus CGI featuring the not so 'secret' garden

Meanwhile, plans for phase one of Kampus – a £200m ‘hip and creative city centre neighbourhood’ located around Aytoun Street – have been submitted to the City Council.

Centred around a botanical gardens (see above), phase one comprises 478 units across three towers ranging from twelve to sixteen storeys. The Mecanoo-designed scheme also includes a roof village of ‘Dutch’ townhouses, roof gardens and parking.

Adam Higgins of Capital & Centric said: "We have worked closely with Manchester City Council and importantly, the local community to create this exciting scheme, which will rejuvenate this area of our city that has been neglected for too long.

"The 'secret garden' concept is pivotal to our vision and by injecting our unique design ideas, KAMPUS will attract quirky, independent leisure operators and create a vibrant new bohemian destination for the city."

The joint venture partnership acquired Manchester Metropolitan University's 250,000 sq ft Aytoun Street campus back in March 2014. The final scheme will total 500,000 sq ft, including the renovation of Minshull and Minto & Turner mills.

More on the Kampus development here.