Allied London poised to buy Fire Station

Allied London is understood to have been selected as the purchaser for Britannia’s London Road Fire Station in Manchester, beating Henry Boot Developments and Generation.

The grade two-listed building next to Piccadilly Station was put on the market in April with a price tag of around £10m.

Allied London has retained Levitt Bernstein to draw up mixed-use plans for the building to include studio living, workspace and hotel rooms.

When Allied London was revealed as a shortlisted bidder in July, chief executive Michael Ingall told Place North West: “We always told ourselves not to go off piste outside Spinningfields and the old Granada studios but I really like the building, I think it’s amazing.”

Ingall said he would work with what was already on the site rather than “rip the guts out”.

London Road Fire Station has been the subject of controversy in Manchester for a number of years due to the property falling into a state of disrepair.

Alex Langsam’s company Britannia has owned the London Road Fire Station for 27 years. Britannia was granted planning permission to convert the fire station into a 227-bed hotel in 2010. Manchester City Council has twice proposed the use of compulsory purchase powers to acquire the site in 2011 and at the end of 2014 after Britannia failed to bring a development forward.

The station was marketed by Christie & Co on behalf of Britannia.

No one was available to comment at the time of publication.