Marlsbro House, Boohoo, c Google Earth snapshot

The building has a distinctive chequerboard façade. Credit: Google Earth

Boohoo puts Northern Quarter office on the market

The fashion retailer is seeking offers in excess of £3.5m for the 26,000 sq ft Marlsbro House on Newton Street in Manchester.

Recognisable for its chequerboard cladding, the Northern Quarter property last transacted in 2020 when Boohoo bought it for £3.7m.

Spanning five floors, Marlsbro House is grade two listed. However, marketing materials for the building suggest that this might not be a barrier to redevelopment.

The listing could be considered “unjustified” due to the building’s “limited heritage value,” and the number of “substantial changes” that have been made over the years, including the addition of the chequerboard cladding, according to a marketing brochure prepared by Sixteen Real Estate and Edwards Property.

“Taking into account the public benefits of a proposed scheme substantially exceeding the current building, it is believed that an application for obtaining listed planning consent for the demolition of the existing property for redevelopment can be justified,” the brochure states.

Refurbishment of the existing office space or redevelopment into residential or a hotel are among the options available to would-be buyers.

The site is located next to a site on Postal Street earmarked for 126 flats by This City, Manchester City Council’s housing delivery vehicle.

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I wonder what architectural value got it it’s grade 2 listing. I always thought it looked derelict walking past. Not exactly a stunning red brick or stone example. Maybe for its brutalist architecture. Personally I’d knock that one down and start again

By Tomo

No BooHoo, not sure this is even worth a punt.
It’s actually a really very well preserved early C19 mill/factory, of which there are few if any left on this scale in the immediate area, in active use until fairly recently by plenty of bands and musicians until a certain retailer bought it.
Only Listed in 2019, with the description setting out in detail the very specific reasons why it’s important, mostly to do with the structure, so no, not even MCC Planning will be giving demolition consent on the basis of some dodgy and entirely reversible 1960s rendering (not cladding).

By Rotringer

If it’s really “unjustified” they’d try to get it de-listed before putting it on the market.

By Anonymous

I would have never thought that building was listed from walking past it many many times!

By Andee

Listed in 2019, i.e. with the 1960s alteraitions to the outside of an important surviving mill of 1823. Hard to say the listing is ‘unjustified’ or it is of ‘limited heritage value’. Here is the listing: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1466846?section=official-list-entry

By What Rotringer Said

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