ACLO puts in for Marlsbro House overhaul
The property company owned by Adanola founder Hyrum Cook has submitted plans to refurbish the grade two-listed Manchester office building and remove its distinctive chequerboard cladding.
ACLO bought Marlsbro House on Newton Street in the Northern Quarter from Boohoo for around £3.5m earlier this year. The business is now forging ahead with plans to refresh the 24,000 sq ft building.
The scheme put to Manchester City Council for determination features:
- A bar and recording studio in the basement
- A restaurant on the ground floor
- A private members bar and events space on the fourth floor
- Around 20,000 sq ft of co-working space on the upper floors
- Fresh brick cladding
Archer Humphryes International is the architect, Civic is the structural engineer, Ridge is advising on M&E, and Euan Kellie Property Solutions is the planning consultant. MAKE is the project manager and quantity surveyor.
To learn more about the plans, search for reference number PLA-2026-000266 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.
Marlsbro House is part of a ACLO’s growing property portfolio, which also includes Peter House off St Peter’s Square, and NOMA’s Dantzic – which is home to athleisure brand Adanola’s HQ.
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More of this please
By Anonymous
Please developers take example!
By Anonymous
Wait, you’re telling that has been hidden underneath that nasty checkerboard cladding all this time? I had no idea! This is the best news I’ve seen all week.
By Andee
Lovely building.
By John
Wow, good to see somebody local reviving what’s been neglected for so long 👏🏻👏🏻
By Anonymous
This is a massive improvement to be fair. It’s annoying that Boo Hoo turfed out all the independent creatives and businesses in there and then sat on it empty for so many years by there ya go. This looks loads better 🙂
By Dave
This would be a pretty amazing transformation if the renders can be believed. I hope it goes ahead and is done well, as it will go to prove you don’t always need to demolish and start again.
By Mancunian
This seems promising – looks like someone who appreciates the building has ended up with it, which is a relief after Boohoo trying to market it as not very historic at all and suitable for total redevelopment.
Hopefully they have some architects with specialist experience with buildings of this age and type though, as the website of the ones named above seems to show them as having more of a track record of doing interiors of luxury hospitality venues.
By Anonymous
Thanks be to Jaysus!
By Idi
Great news. It’s an absolute eyesore at the moment
By Steve
A huge improvement on how it looks now.
By Alan
This is really good news on the face of it, but they will need to live up to it. Look forward to seeing more renders.
By MrP
Architects should study these old buildings to reproduce them similar to what Tim Groom is doing. We need more sensitive, ambitious and artistic designs. The Edwardians and Victorians had that sensitivity.
By John
Decent revival; current site is a mess!
By Nice
This looks fabulous and long overdue! Bringing an eyesore back to life in the best way!
By Anonymous
Will be interesting to see if this gets approval given that this is directly opposite Stage & Radio that has operated under its current name in the Northern Quarter since 2016; its building on Port Street has been a live music space for 80 years, dating back to a jazz club that opened in 1946. Given the significant community concern, I request that this application be called in for a full public debate at the Planning Committee so any reasoning for approval can be thoroughly scrutinised.
By Anonymous
Magic. Well done, ACLO.
By Anonymous
THIS is how Manchester shakes off its ugly city reputation!
By Heritage Action
Can’t wait to see the back of that disfiguring cladding. Ugliest building in town as things stand
By MJC
Re. Anon 11.37 – What on earth has this got to do with the bar round the corner? This isn’t a resi scheme and actual resi schemes are already being built opposite. Would be surprised if there really is “community concern” about the refurb of an existing building only announced a couple of days ago…
By Anonymous
Amazing
By M101