Double quick approval for Neville’s office-to-hotel conversion
It has taken just over six weeks for Manchester City Council to approve Relentless Developments’ plans to redevelop Norfolk House into 95 bedrooms for the Stock Exchange hotel.
Plans to convert the 54,000 sq ft office block into suites for the hotel co-owned by former Manchester United captain Gary Neville – which is located across the road – were lodged on Halloween and were approved yesterday under delegated powers.
The Stock Exchange Hotel itself opened in 2019 and has 40 bedrooms regularly frequented by celebrities. The expansion project would more than triple the capacity.
The rooms located within Norfolk House will be known as the Stock Exchange Suites.
The ground floor will comprise of a lounge, gym, spa, meeting rooms, and a a restaurant/bar.
EPR Architects is advising on design and Zerum is the planning consultant.
To learn more, search for reference number 144411/FO/2025 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.
The scheme marks a fresh chapter for Norfolk House after its former occupiers vacated over recent years. Knight Frank Investment Management put the asset on the market in 2024 with a guide price of £8.5m.
If something is good it’s good to know the council can move this quickly. Great use of this building.
By Anonymous
This is exactly how all planning departments should operate when faced with straightforward development proposals. Political party politics get in the way of making the correct planning decisions. Oldham and Stockport are prime examples of how not to manage the planning system, I feel sorry for the officers in these Boroughs.
By Anonymous
This is what happens when developers undertake robust pre-application enquiry discussions. It looks like the decision was made in 6 weeks, but I met there were many months of discussions with MCC beforehand, so the submitted information should already have been reviewed and agreed.
By Anonymous
Yes MCC deals with stuff very quickly – see also Jeremy Clarkson now being a Manchester fan (!) -but this was entirely uncontentious, and possibly only Gary could turn round the back of Boots into prime territory for his investors.
By Take Stock Exchange
The murky world of MCC strikes again.
By KatieT
How the F can they deal with Neville’s app in 6 weeks when everything else in their in tray takes 2 months before they’ll even bother to send you the computer says invalid letter !!!!!
By Mr T
This is grossly unfair on the people of Liverpool. We demand you take two and a half years to approve schemes, to level the playing field.
By Anonymous
Fantastic this. Really regenerating what was previously a grotty back end part of the Arnedale. Hope the street lamps are included
By Bob
In Liverpool we would have had a 6 month consultation followed by another consultation followed by yeah you guessed it.
By Lee
Great turnaround, I hope they can now keep this up with all applications !
By Rod Back
Katie T – I’m not sure what you mean by “murky world of MCC”. If you are implying that something is amiss or there is wrongdoings at the council I suggest you inform the relevant authorities rather than making cryptic comments on an online property journal or at least save your unfounded comments for the MEN.
By Anonymous
The Councillors and their officers should be congratulated for dealing with this professionally, effectively and in-line with council guidelines. Those who moan about what happens in their towns and cities should do something about it in their communities and councils. Dragging everyone down to the lowest common denominator in terms of decision making etc is not the answer.
By Russell P
This is lesson numero 1 in why Manchester is now leading economically. They’ve successfully sidelined NIMBY weirdos who only want to stall and delay. Manchester’s approach needs to be adopted on a national scale and pronto.
By Anonymous
I was in Manchester recently. Jeremy Clarkson is right, it’s turning into something very special and still unique
By Anonymous
Gary for Mayor! ( once Andy has gone, of course….)
By Keir
Let’s be very clear Manchester City Council’s Planning function is the best in the North West by a country mile. How it has deal with this application is one of many examples. The team there have a commercial mindset aligned with a high level of professionalism. They get the growth agenda and this is why investment continues to flow into Manchester. Cllr Craig is one very lucky politician to have that team.
By Anonymous
NIMBY weirdo’s?!!. That’s a weirdo comment. Every one is entitled to a viewpoint whether you like it or not. This happens to be a great development but please PNW can we keep the keyboard chewers away from the comments section and confined to Instagram. There’s too much of this turning up in the comments recently.
By Anonymous
@Anon 8:21
By your definition, everyone’s viewpoint is just as worthy to be published.
By Anonymous