Green light for next stage of ArchCo’s £200m Project 1,000 

The Arch Company has been given consent to convert 32,000 sq ft of units beneath the viaduct off Corporation Street in Manchester into spaces for restaurants, shops, and other ventures. 

The scheme forms part of Project 1,000, The Arch Company’s £200m plan to bring a thousand empty or derelict spaces into use across England and Wales by 2030. 

ArchCo is owned by Telereal Trillium and Blackstone Property Partners. The JV took control of 5,200 properties, the majority of which are converted railway arches, from Network Rail in 2018 in a £1.46bn deal. 

The Corporation Street arches, which range from 740 sq ft to 6,000 sq ft, are located within the £4bn Victoria North masterplan, which is being developed by Manchester City Council in partnership with Far East Consortium.  

The 10 arches can be found in a section of the viaduct that carries both rail and Metrolink lines out of Manchester Victoria train station. 

The viaduct acts as a dividing line between Red Bank, one of the neighbourhoods within the Victoria North masterplan, and Meadowside, FEC’s recently completed 756 home development. 

Once the 20-year Victoria North masterplan is more advanced, Corporation Street leading to Dantzic Street will become one of the key links between the city centre and the new development. 

SGP is the architect leading on the arches project. Studio director Alan Soper said: “By any standards, arches are not a ‘normal’ building type and each can differ considerably in height, depth and shape; realising the potential of these previously overlooked spaces takes experience and good technical know-how if we are to refurbish them to modern occupancy standards.” 

SGP is working on a similar scheme with the Arch Company across the border in Salford. There, the company wants to transform another 10 railway arches on Norton Street as part of the ongoing regeneration of Greengate.