Brickland’s Trafford apartments given the go-ahead
After several false dawns, the site of the former B&Q on Great Stone Road can now be redeveloped after the developer’s 228-home proposal was approved by the council’s planning committee.
The Tim Groom-designed residential scheme, featuring a mix of apartments and townhouses on the long-vacant site, was tipped for approval by Trafford Council’s planning team.
At a meeting last night, councillors agreed with officers’ assertions that the development is of “a particularly high design quality, which will deliver a true sense of place, and would represent a substantial enhancement of the current appearance of the site”.
Liverpool-based developer Brickland has been working with landowner Blythe Ventures to bring the scheme forward since 2023, following the demolition of the plot’s former B&Q store next to Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Stretford.
Blythe Ventures is controlled by Andrew Bell of AJ Bell and his wife Tracey. The company acquired the site from Accrue Capital in 2022 for just shy of £5m after the vendor’s bid to secure planning permission for a 330 flat scheme on the site failed at appeal.
At one point in time, Trafford Council had been eyeing up the site for a leisure centre and was considering using CPO powers to acquire the site from Accrue. However, this plan was ditched in 2021.
Brickland’s development was put to the council in January. It would sit on a cleared site and comprise 90 one-bed apartments, 113 two-bed apartments, 17 three-bed apartments, and eight three-bed townhouses.
The scheme would rise to six storeys – three storeys shorter than the earlier Accrue proposal – and feature a central communal garden for residents.
While providing no on-site affordable housing, the developer has committed to contribute £1.4m towards affordable housing elsewhere in the borough.
Brickland claims that the marginal viability of the project makes it unsuitable to accommodate affordable housing.
An additional £500,000 has been offered towards infrastructure improvements within the Civic Quarter.
Lancashire County Cricket Club was among the objectors to the proposals, claiming the scheme would have a negative impact on the operation of the cricket ground.
The plans can be viewed by searching for application reference number 115175/FUL/24 on Trafford Council’s planning portal.
Zerum is advising on planning. The project team also features PGLA Landscape Architects, Clancy Consulting, Cundall, SLR Consulting, Futureserv Consulting Engineers, Orion Fire Engineering, Adapt Heritage, GIA Surveyors, Proximity, and TEP.
