Manchester secures backing for affording housing pipeline through GMPF deal
After nine months of gestation, the Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Pension Fund partnership with ambitions to deliver nearly 1,600 homes is ready to be born.
The partnership will support This City, Manchester City Council’s housing company dedicated to building low-carbon homes on brownfield sites. This City delivered its first project – 129 homes at No1 Ancoats Green – last year. Another seven sites, mostly in North and East Manchester have been put forward as contenders for development.
Of all the homes delivered by This City, at least 20% should be designated as Manchester Living Rent. This tenure is capped at the Local Housing Allowance Level, which is set by government and is based on how much should be spent on rent if an individual receives housing benefit.
Manchester City Council’s executive committee will be asked Friday to approve the structure of the joint venture, which will bypass the usual creation of a separate LP to oversee the projects in favour of a 10-year collaboration agreement.
Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, each project receiving its own separate site-specific partnership and leasing partnership to oversee the development and its eventual management and operation.
The agreement will require both the city council and GMPF, as equal partners, to agree on final development, funding, business, and planning agreements.
The city council’s executive last considered the partnership with GMPF in June, when it agreed to enter into a joint venture.
Cllr Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “This partnership with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund will enable us to drive forward the work of This City to build the homes the city needs on council-owned land.”
She continued: “Completing No1 Ancoats Green last year was a great start – but this collaboration with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund provides long-term assurance that we can bring forward and deliver even more ambitious schemes.
“We already have a strong pipeline of projects in place, including the next This City development in the Northern Quarter, with further sites across Manchester. This means we are building many more homes capped at the Manchester Living Rent in the coming years.”
What’s next
The collaboration agreement will see This City garner the secure financial backing it needs to deliver its pipeline.
Next up is a site off Postal Street in the Northern Quarter, where a commercial building has already been demolished in preparation for the delivery of a potential 126 homes. This project has reached RIBA Stage 2, with plans to submit a planning application later this year. This City hopes to be on site by the third quarter of 2027.
Funding for Postal Street will come from equity and debt from MCC and GMPF, as well as grant funding from Greater Manchester Combined Authority. GMCA also awarded the project £16.3m from its Good Growth Fund in November.
The first phase of a four-phase project at Monsall in Harpurhey would be next up, with ambitions to deliver 175 homes starting during the first quarter of 2028. When all four phases complete, This City would have built 651 homes.
Around the same time as the first phase at Monsall, This City would be overseeing the construction of 88 homes at Kirkmanshulme Lane in Longsight.
The following quarter could see the commencement of work to deliver 84 homes at Hyde Road in Longsight.
Closing out 2028 would be work starting on 145 homes at Grey Mare Lane in the Ancoats and Beswick ward.
This City has listed 2030 as the next big year for work starts for its pipeline, with hopes to start delivering 181 homes at Downing Street in Ardwick in the first quarter and 256 homes at Heyrod Street in the Piccadilly ward in the third quarter.
Well done to the Council here, leading from the front. It would be interesting to see the structure of the deal with the pension fund as they’ll need a guaranteed return on their investment. For all the hype around Manchesterism affordable housing was in danger of becoming an afterthought so this should be hugely welcomed.
By Anonymous
This would have been a great series of projects to use all the S.106/affordable housing payments MCC have received form all their favourite developers.
Oh, hang on a minute, they cannot do that because there aren’t any,,,
By Anonymous