THING OF THE WEEK

Developer and contractor Downing is understood to have exchanged contracts to buy a First Street plot with planning consent for 624 apartments from Patrizia Immobilien, for around £18m.

Countryside and Sigma Capital Group have started on site with £35m of residential development across four sites in Rochdale, delivering 264 homes.

Caddick Construction is due to start work next month on five industrial units totalling 170,000 sq ft at Birchwood Park.

Wirral Council has secured £6m from the Government to bring forward more than 1,100 homes at the mixed-use site, while the council is also set to back Peel with a £1.5m grant to deliver an industrial scheme.

Manchester’s Piccadilly railway station is set to become one of the city’s development hotspots with a comprehensive overhaul put forward by the city council ahead of the arrival of HS2. Here, Hala Al-Abweh, architecture and urbanism student at the University of Manchester, shares her vision for the area with an increased focus on public realm.

The mixed-use project has secured unanimous backing from Stockport Council’s planning committee with a number of major contractors expressing an interest in delivering the scheme.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority will next week consider 18 cycling and walking schemes with a combined value of £137m, the projects being part of the proposed Bee Network.

County Planning and Dove Architecture have obtained planning permission for a rooftop terrace to be built at the Treasury Building in Warrington’s Palmyra Square.

National Museums Liverpool is looking to appoint a masterplanner as it seeks to improve its holdings in the city’s maritime quarter into an "outstanding visitor destination".

While a Conservative motion urging Trafford Council to pull its support for the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework was defeated last night, a move by the Green Party to reduce the borough’s housing allocation was supported.