Beech targets 2019 start on Deansgate South flats

Developer Beech Holdings, advised by Hodder + Partners and Deloitte, has revealed proposals for a prominent plot on the corner of Manchester’s Deansgate and Chester Road, replacing previous planning consent with a larger apartment scheme.

Beech bought the site from Bill Wrather’s Knott Mill Securities in 2016, with planning permission for a 13-storey block made up of 53 apartments, designed by Ombler Iwanowski Architects.

Initially Beech planned to implement the scheme as approved, however since the acquisition Beech retained Hodder to work up new plans. Designs revealed at a public consultation yesterday show a 17-storey block, totalling 84 apartments, and a retail unit on the ground floor which Beech hopes to operate as a coffee shop.

The building is clad in white corium brick slip and anodized copper, to help it blend in with Renaker and OMI Architect’s proposals at 2-4 Chester Road.

The development team is targeting a refreshed planning application to be submitted in September, and a start on site in the second quarter of 2019.

A spokesperson for Beech said: “The previous scheme had fundamental buildability issues as well as some objections from the neighbouring residents. Following their feedback, we have newly improved and upgraded designs, being more in keeping with the Great Jackson Street area.”

The plot lies on the edge of the Great Jackson Street regeneration area of Manchester, and is next to Owen Street, where Renaker is on site with its skyscraper cluster which will total 1,500 flats.