Jadebricks’ 15-storey Manchester PBSA up for determination 

The city council has recommended the 107-bed Charles Street scheme for approval, the latest in a wave of student developments in the city.

Designed by SimpsonHaugh Architects, the project would see a long-vacant site on Charles Street transformed into purpose-built student accommodation.

Jadebricks submitted its proposals to Manchester City Council for consideration in December after consulting on the 15-storey development earlier in the year.

The project, which boasts a green terracotta facade, would be built on the surface car park between the recently completed Maldron Hotel and Bracken House. It would provide an injection of beds into Manchester’s PBSA pipeline.

A city council report on the project said: “The proposal would develop an underused poor quality brownfield site. The high-quality architecture and materials would make a positive contribution to the street scene and it would achieve a high level of sustainability and reduce CO2 emissions.”

As well as providing student beds, a planning statement by Turley that accompanies the application said that the scheme would “support the wider housing market in the city by reducing reliance upon the general private rented sector”.

To learn more about the scheme, search for reference number 138808/FO/2023 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.

Jadebricks’ scheme is the latest in a growing list of purpose-built student accommodation proposals to come forward in recent months.

A new entrant to the Manchester property scene, Manner, recently submitted plans for a 500-bed scheme on the long-derelict Hotspur Press site, while Downing has decided to deliver an element of PBSA at its First Street cluster, which was previously solely co-living.

A £400m redevelopment of the University of Manchester’s Owens Park Campus has approval, too.