REGISTER NOW | Serendipity Labs’ Manchester launch

The Department for Education has applied for permission to significantly remodel and refurbish the grade two-listed Victoria Building, described as the “front door” of the college campus.

Architects Haworth Tompkins will lead a multidisciplinary project team tasked with weighing up options to refurbish the 156-year-old theatre and protect it for generations to come.

The city council this week gave planning consent to two blocks containing a total of 388 studios off Bulk Road and Parliament Street, designed by Tim Groom Architects.

The London-listed developer is to occupy 4,327 sq ft of the six-storey office building, which was one of the first phases to complete at the £147m town centre regeneration.

Once built, The Avenues will offer 33 apartments across three blocks next to the River Irwell, in Lower Broughton. The scheme aims to present a “new model for sustainable living”, according to the developer.

The budget supermarket chain has earmarked nine acres north of Cables Way for a food store, 40,000 sq ft of employment uses, a drive-thru restaurant, a coffee shop, and a pub, in a scheme now approved by Knowsley Council.

US-headquartered Covanta Energy wants to develop an aggregate processing facility on a landfill site at Bromborough Dock in Wirral, and has submitted an early-stage scoping application to the council.

Head of building consultancy Justin Tuckwell has been promoted to managing partner and Nick Fell to head of residential in the Manchester team, as part of a leadership rejig.

The London-based investor has bought the 63,500 sq ft Unit 6 at Westpoint Enterprise Park as part of a £150m UK industrial and logistics growth strategy.

The developer wants to build a further 250 homes, a spine road with segregated pedestrian and cycle routes, public open spaces, and sports facilities as the next phase of its 95-acre housing scheme outside St Helens.

F&B chains Zizzi, Las Iguanas, and Cosmo have signed to occupy a total of 18,000 sq ft at the £40m city centre leisure scheme, which is now 75% let.

An official media partner of the Cannes property expo, Place is offering a dynamic range of services to help companies maximise their time at MIPIM, with P4 Planning, JMW, Morgan Sindall, Eden, and Luma Marketing signed up as clients.

The Manchester-based landscape architecture practice has completed a partnership buyout led by founder and director Chris Podmore.

Work to regenerate the grade two-listed building – the historic home of Manchester School of Art – on Oxford Road is scheduled to complete in spring 2024, led by contractor Conlon Construction.

Atmosphere versus amenity, the ever-changing desire for flexible space, and uncertainties around future occupier needs were just some of the points debated at the latest Place North West event.

The eleventh residential phase of the £1bn Salford Central masterplan comprises 196 apartments and is now approved by the city council.

Former housing secretary Michael Gove has been appointed to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s cabinet, giving him another opportunity to level up the regions and strengthen building safety laws.

The retailer wants to build a 4,200 sq ft convenience store, 26 car parking spaces, and related landscaping and other infrastructure on the site of the former Cranford Residential Home on Warrington Road.

The Salford-based developer posted an operating loss of £2.1m for the year to end of June, attributed to a delay in the completion of its Lincoln House apartment scheme in Bolton, and rising construction costs.