Whitworth Street West, Fusion Students, p planning docs

Left: How the area could look in a few years. Right: a close up of Corstorphine & Wright's Fusion design. Credit: via planning documents

Fusion tables plans for 39-storey Manchester PBSA

26 June 2026 10:34 Dan Whelan Comments ()

A long-vacant site on Whitworth Street West could be redeveloped into an 818-bed student scheme after earlier plans for a 35-storey build-to-rent tower failed to materialise.

Fusion Student has submitted a planning application for the 39-storey project having consulted on the proposals last year.

Tri7, now part of Fusion, acquired 10-12 Whitworth Street West for £16m in 2024 after the Paul Rothwell-led Vision Manchester SPV entered administration. The £125m Vision was supposed to be a 35-storey tower with 327 flats.

Designed by Corstorphine & Wright Architects, Fusion’s vision for the plot would feature a mix of studios and cluster flats alongside resident amenities within a slender, reddish tower. It would also contribute to the area’s emerging tall building cluster.

Cleared in 2016, the plot is opposite Property Alliance Group’s Axis, next to the site of Glenbrook’s proposed 44-storey tower on Whitworth Street West, and close to Salboy’s Viadux phase one and planned 76-storey phase two.

Fusion’s Whitworth Street West plans have been submitted as the developer’s 28-storey Deansgate South scheme nears completion a short distance away. That project was initially rejected by Manchester City Council’s planning committee before being approved on appeal.

Cushman & Wakefield is advising on planning. GIA, Stantec, Alder King, Wardell Armstrong, G&T, Park Hood, Sandy Brown, Amber, Shear Design, Montagu Evens, and RHomco are also advising.

To learn more, search for reference number PLA-2026-000485 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.