Manchester to approve pioneering Didsbury office, Great Northern revamp 

Bruntwood Works’ 82,000 sq ft timber-framed workspace and Trilogy Real Estate and Peterson Group’s £213m mixed-use redevelopment of a prominent site off Deansgate are both tipped for consent. 

Manchester City Council’s planning committee will discuss the two major schemes next Thursday.

Great Northern Warehouse 

View looking down from one of the towers. Credit: SimpsonHaugh

Developer: Trilogy Real Estate and Peterson Group 

Architect: SimpsonHaugh  

Planner: Deloitte  

The development will see the historic Great Northern Warehouse converted into 120,000 sq ft of offices with 746 homes built across three new-build blocks. 

The tallest of the residential blocks would be a 34-storey tower. A 27-storey block and a third rising to 16 storeys make up the housing element of the long-awaited project. 

The homes would have between one and three bedrooms, with 430 being two-bedroom units. There is no on-site affordable housing proposed due to viability constraints. 

Deansgate Terrace would also be refurbished to provide 30,000 sq ft of offices on its upper floors, with the ground floor continuing to hold retail and leisure space. 

The leisure box, a 1990s extension to Great Northern, would be partially demolished under the plans to make way for the new build elements. 

The leisure box is currently home to the Odeon cinema, an NCP carpark, and a gym. 

If planning permission is secured, Trilogy and Peterson would develop the project in phases. Phase A would be the refurbishment and conversion of Great Northern Warehouse and the northern end of Deansgate Terrace. 

Phases B and C would include the partial leisure box demolition, the building of the residential towers, and the refurbishment of the southern end of Deansgate Terrace. 

The project team also includes WSP, Planit-IE, Curtins, Stephen Levrant Heritage Architecture, Civic Engineers, Salford Archaeology, UrbanBubble, Light Bureau, Forever Consulting, Indigo Surveys, Pager Power, OFR Consultants, Aura, and Quadriga. 

The planning application reference numbers for the project are 135565/FO/2022 and 135566/LO/2022 with Manchester City Council. 

Ev0 – Didsbury Technology Park

The office is aiming to be one of the greenest in the UK. Credit: via Citypress

Developer: Bruntwood Works 

Architect: Sheppard Robson 

Planner: Deloitte  

The developer claims Ev0, an 82,000 sq ft timber-framed building at Didsbury Technology Park, will be one of the most sustainable workspaces in the UK. 

Bruntwood Works’ £30m, six-storey office will aim for the highest standards of sustainability, both during construction and in operation, the developer said.  

Ev0 is targeting a 5.5-star NABERS rating and an ‘Excellent’ certification from BREEAM.  

The scheme aims to serve as a blueprint for other developers hoping to deliver net zero carbon workspaces, according to Bruntwood. 

In addition, Ev0 aims to meet the LETI 2020 design target for upfront carbon, the RIBA 2025 performance targets on whole-life carbon and the UK Green Building Council’s Paris Proof operational energy use targets.  

Once complete, Bruntwood aims to generate 94% of the energy required to operate the building on site. The remaining energy requirement will be fulfilled by Bruntwood’s recently acquired wind farm in Ayrshire. 

The office will be constructed on land between the for-sale Sir William Siemens House, and Spire Bruntwood Works’ Ohm Building at Didsbury Technology Park. 

Ramboll is the MEP, structural, and sustainability consultant. 

JLL and CBRE will act as agents for the building. 

To learn more about the project, search for reference number 135309/FO/2022 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.