Britannia gets consent for £16.5m Manchester resi 

Designed by Ollier Smurthwaite Architects, the scheme will see the former Victoria Park Probation Centre in Rusholme transformed into 72 homes.

Britannia Group was granted planning consent for the project at Manchester City Council’s planning committee meeting yesterday [Thursday].

At the same meeting, developers Property Alliance Group and Cityside saw decisions on their projects – a £55m city centre office scheme and a 261-bedroom student development in Moss Side respectively – deferred pending site visits.

City councillors looked favourably on Britannia’s scheme, which will see the construction of a 3.5-storey apartment block and a series of seven blocks made up of townhouses and flats off Laindon Road.

Nick Carter, development director, Britannia Group said: “We are very excited by our plans to transform the site, especially bringing a large building back to the corner of Daisy Bank Road and Laindon Road and creating much-needed new family homes for the area.”

The main building will include 23 one-bedroom apartments – six of which will be affordable – and 14 two-bedroom apartments with private ground floor gardens, and parking and shared gardens to the rear.

The seven blocks will be made up of 15 three-bedroom townhouses, 15 more with four bedrooms, two one-bed apartments, a pair of two-bed apartments, and one six-bedroom house.

The final development will have a GDV in the region of £16.5 m, according to Britannia.

Matt Ollier, Ollier Smurthwaite Architects, added: “The scheme takes a derelict brownfield site suffering from anti-social behaviour and proposes high-quality houses and apartments for inter-generational living.

“A strong sense of community is promoted through the front and rear gardens, shared lawns and a kitchen garden. We are also incorporating a large number of existing mature trees along Daisy Bank Lane into the development.”

Avison Young is the planning consultant. Britannia has already started demolition of the derelict buildings on the site with construction work to follow on within six months.