LTE pushes ahead with phase two of Manchester city campus 

Despite doubts about how the scheme will be funded, the firm that runs The Manchester College has submitted a planning application for a 63,000 sq ft extension to the recently completed £93m Great Ducie Street facility. 

Under LTE Group’s plans, the £36m second phase of the Manchester College campus would be constructed immediately adjacent the first phase on part of the former Boddingtons Brewery Site. 

Designed by Bond Bryan, the project would see the creation of a new centre of excellence for business and professional services attached to the centre of excellence for digital and creative industries, which opened its doors last September. 

The phase two building will act as a replacement for the Shena Simon Campus, which LTE is currently marketing for sale. 

Avison Young is advising LTE Group on planning, BDP is the M&E consultant and Aecom is advising on civils. 

To learn more about the project, search for reference number 136492/FO/2023 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal. 

A report to Manchester City Council’s economy and scrutiny committee published in March outlined the issues LTE Group was facing in a bid to deliver the phase two project. 

The report stated that the LTE Group Board “will take the final decision on whether to proceed with the phase two building once the final costs are known in July 2023”. 

LTE is waiting for clarity on changes to how colleges are allowed to borrow money before it can pull the trigger on the second building and at present “cannot commit beyond the initial design phase to this project until DfE establishes viable options to commercial financing”. 

The city centre campus forms part of an estate strategy that aims to consolidate 54 buildings across 19 locations in Manchester, to nine buildings across just five sites.  

To date, several campuses within LTE’s disparate estate have been sold.  

The 6.5-acre Fielden Campus in West Didsbury has been sold to Manchester Islamic Education Trust, while LTE disposed of 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.  

LTE also sold a portion of the Boddingtons site to Clarion Housing Group in 2021, and the housing association’s development arm Latimer plans to build 442 flats across two buildings including a 20-plus storey tower. 

On a neighbouring plot, Salboy is preparing to start work on the 556-apartment Old Brewery Gardens having acquired the site late last year. 

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