LTE picks buyer for Fielden Campus
The Manchester College’s West Didsbury site will remain as an education facility with Manchester Islamic Education Trust poised to acquire it, Place North West understands.
The education provider plans to use the Fielden Campus, located off Barlow Moor Road, to consolidate existing sites in Withington and Chorlton into a single location.
Those sites could then be redeveloped into housing, according to a report to Manchester City Council’s executive. The authority has a minor land interest at the site and has signed off on its disposal.
The trust beat off competition from two housebuilders for the site and its offer was more than 30% higher than those of the residential developers, the report said.
Cushman & Wakefield was appointed to market the 6.5-acre site for sale last year.
The LTE Group refused to confirm the identity of the buyer when contacted by Place. Manchester Islamic Education Trust was contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for LTE said: “The sale of Fielden supports our broader estates strategy with the proceeds being invested back into our consolidated estates and forming part of our £140m funding package to provide state-of-the-art educational facilities across Greater Manchester, including the development of our brand new City Campus Manchester.”
LTE Group is in the process of selling various sites around Manchester to support the development of its new £93m campus on Great Ducie Street, due to open to students next month.
LTE has already sold the 18-acre Northenden Campus to Miller Homes and its Moston site to housing association One Manchester.
HBD acquired the education provider’s St John’s Campus on the edge of Spinningfields and plans to develop a £100m office development offering 200,000 sq ft.
How regressive
By Dan
Such a shame this run down building will remain standing. This was such a perfect opportunity to build the apartments the area was crying out for. Didsbury is home to so many young professionals who graduate from the University of Manchester and move down the road from Fallowfield so they can enjoy suburb life. Burton Road is a hub for this community and it’s a real shame that there won’t be more apartments available for them.
By MC
Great news, educational site will enhance the area.
By Mrs h
The building is an end of life eyesore and the traffic is gridlock, another school where people will drive and drop kids off will cause total traffic chaos in the mornings. Expect queues all the way back to Northern Moor and Chorlton if this goes ahead, the council should use its veto to block this.
By Anonymous
Manchester Islamic Educational Trust buying Fielden Campus is really a great news, it would mean that this building will still be used for educational purposes, rather than it being demolished & converted into something else, this purpose build site will be useful again, no demolition, no waste, it’s been recycled, which will be great for the environment, & the nearby residents,
By Neelam Zaheer
Shocking location for a secondary school, traffic is already so bad on Barlow Moor Road and onto Palatine Road I expect if this is allowed to go ahead a large swathe of South Manchester and the bus connections will grind to a total halt. The main building is also a disgraceful concrete eyesore and needs demolishing, so the idea of repurposing it is another bad idea. This needs a total rethink and quick.
By Alan
I’m not sure why some people here have commented on here about there being traffic gridlock if Fielden Park Centre is turned into a school. Especially as the same people are going on about Burton Road being a hub for the community. Obviously they aren’t bothered about the chaotic traffic on Burton Road, cars double parked, buses fighting to get through a road that’s consistently getting narrower. Also, I don’t think young professionals who have just graduated from UoM can afford to come skipping merrily to move into Didsbury from Fallowfield! Not unless it’s the odd one or two with a trust fund! Also, are these same people complaining about the traffic chaos that’s being caused by the council making cycle lanes for the two (rude, arrogant and grumpy) cyclists who actually use cycle lanes. And don’t give me arguments about the environment, the traffic gridlock and chaos these road works are causing, plus the road works themselves, are a negative impact on the environment!
By Lia