Manchester lines 24-storey Cornbrook tower up for approval

Forshaw Land & Property’s largest project to date features 224 apartments and an 87-bedroom aparthotel.

Manchester City Council’s planning team has earmarked the £70m development for approval ahead of its June committee meeting next Friday.

Designed by Leach Rhodes Walker, the development would be built on a vacant site off Cornbrook Road on the fringe of the Peel-owned Pomona Island, rebranded by the developer as Manchester Waters.

The 24-storey apartment tower would provide 70 one-bedroom homes, 151 with two bedrooms, a pair of three-bedroom flats, and a duplex. None of the flats will be affordable.

The four-storey aparthotel would be operated in-house under Forshaw’s Vivere Aparthotels brand.

Amenity spaces planned within the development include a games room, communal coworking spaces, a private dining room, a yoga studio, and a residents’ gym.

The owner of VOX, a residential development nearby, has submitted numerous objections to the scheme on behalf of residents including concerns about how the project will impact the amount of daylight residents can expect.

However, planning officers have concluded that there would be “no unduly harmful impacts” on nearby homes and businesses.

Read the full planning report

Forshaw bought a plot in Cornbrook from Peel Waters, as revealed by Place North West, before lodging plans for its redevelopment earlier this year.

Bricks Group and Peel Waters had previously been delivering the project, with Marriott lined up to operate the scheme.

The earlier iteration of the scheme, approved by Manchester City Council in 2021, comprised a 154-bedroom hotel and an 88-bedroom aparthotel and across two blocks of 11 and 15 storeys.

Lichfields is the planning consultant advising Forshaw. Top learn more about the scheme, search for reference number 139133/FO/2024 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.