THING OF THE WEEK

It has been more than three years since the Manchester office project secured planning permission. Now, developer Federated Hermes MEPC has appointed CBRE and JLL joint letting agents as it appears to be bringing the project forward at last.

A loan from Puma Property Finance means that work can start on constructing a 70-bed senior living facility and 14 three-bed townhouses on land off Morley Drive.

Rossendale councillors have voted to grant permission to the Levelling Up Fund project, which will see a 6,500 sq ft canopy introduced, stalls refurbished, and a 1,600 sq ft café added to the Temple Court outdoor marketplace.

A five-storey apartment block next to Barons Quay has been put forward by the developer and now awaits sign-off from Cheshire West and Chester Council.

National Museums Liverpool will appoint a contractor to lead the overhaul of the Hartley Pavilion and Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building, providing upgraded settings for the Maritime Museum and International Slavery Museum.

After a 2.5-year planning wait, O’Flynn Group’s student accommodation specialist has appointed GMI Construction and building has begun, aiming to complete for the 2027/28 academic year.

Put up for sale in August with a guide price of just under £4m, the 60-bedroom Patterdale Hotel has been snapped up.

Plans for 37 homes on part of the Demmings Road industrial estate will proceed to Stockport’s main planning committee after receiving a thumbs-up at area level.

Once intended as a new home for Birkenhead Market, Wirral Council has now decided that part of the cleared Grange Road plot will be used to support ongoing regeneration projects.

The two local authorities are creating separate lists of vetted contractors to assist with structural repairs, drainage works, and carriageway maintenance.

Acknowledging its vulnerable position, Wrexham County Council’s planning team warned councillors legal challenges were likely to increase now that the latest approved spatial strategy is the Unitary Development Plan, which expired 15 years ago.

Gorton in Manchester will receive a new Community Diagnostics Centre, while an expansion has been signed off for the Paddington CDC in Liverpool.

In the largest office deal in Salford since the pandemic, Bankfoot APAM has signed the global audio branding agency to a 15-year lease at the former Colgate Palmolive factory.

The Midlands-based property company has acquired a 157,000 sq ft industrial unit at Pimbo Industrial Estate in Skelmersdale, let to the footwear brand on a 10-year lease.

Meet the candidates vying to become the county’s first mayor at this annual event, which provides attendees with the must-know information they need to spot opportunities and do business in Carlisle, Barrow, the Lake District National Park, and more.

It was a clean sweep for planning approvals on Wednesday morning, with councillors voting to grant permission to all four major applications on their desk.

Bankfoot APAM’s £33.5m plans for apartments and townhouses in Stalybridge and the Department for Education’s long-awaited replacement for Russell Scott Primary School in Denton both secured the go-ahead from councillors this morning.

NHS Property Services has lodged plans to convert the library into a replacement for the out-of-date Uplands Medical Practice building on Bury New Road.

The rural economy-focused lender has agreed terms on a 10-year lease with landlord Watkin Property Ventures at the Gorse Stacks office complex.