MCC to sign off 620,000 sq ft Noma expansion
Developer Federated Hermes could expand office provision at the Manchester business district to 1.6m sq ft, once the council approves an updated masterplan for the 20-acre scheme on Wednesday.
Under Manchester City Council’s previous masterplan for Noma, the site between Manchester Victoria train station and the Northern Quarter was earmarked for 1m sq ft of office space. However, the updated framework identifies additional development sites – Plots H, K and Q – that could deliver a further 620,000 sq ft of offices.
The expansion aims to “strengthen Noma’s position as an emerging commercial, creative and digital hub”, according to the council.
Plot Q was originally earmarked to house a multistorey car park but is now tipped for offices.
Plot K has been identified for office development in the updated masterplan but a “hotel and/or multistorey car park” could also be feasible on this site, it states.
So far, around 563,000 sq ft of office space is either built or under construction at Noma, including the refurbishment of the Dutch modernist-style Redfern building; Hanover House, where Amazon has opened its first UK headquarters outside of London; the Dantzic building, and the 1 and 2 Angel Square office building.
A contractor was appointed for the latest office block, 4 Angel Square, in the summer.
The Old Bank building extension is designed by Sheppard Robson
Manchester City Council also signed off plans to extend the Old Bank Building on Corporation Street to create a 152,000 sq ft office scheme last month.
Lyons Thompson Letts Property Consultants and Colliers are the joint retail and leisure agents for Noma, while JLL and Colliers are the office agents.
The developer, Federated Hermes, is an entity of asset manager Hermes Investment Management. Hermes was originally delivering the project in a joint venture with the Co-operative Group through the pair’s Noma joint venture.
However, Hermes acquired the Co-operative Group’s stake in Noma for an undisclosed sum in 2017.
MEPC, which was acquired by Federated Hermes earlier this year, was appointed the development manager for Noma in 2018.
The Ardwick Green framework covers a 56-acre area south-east of the city centre
Manchester City Council is also due to launch a second public consultation on a development framework for the 56-acre Ardwick Green area of the city
Plans for Ardwick include redeveloping brownfield land into housing, enhancing the three-acre green at the centre of the area and improving connections with the city centre, including with the burgeoning Mayfield development close to Piccadilly train station.
The framework was drawn up for the council and One Manchester, a housing association that owns and manages housing in the neighbourhood, by architect SimpsonHaugh, planning consultant Deloitte Real Estate, engineer ARUP and heritage consultant Stephen Levrant Heritage Architecture.
They should try fill up the empty ones first, including the CIS tower
By PDM
Isn’t the CIS tower about to be refurbished, hence why departments have been gradually moving out of it?
By Jay
Having read the Old Bank Building planning application, it is so disappointing to see the council fail to uphold their own Net Zero Carbon framework and undermine their own Climate Emergency declaration.
There is no evidence that measures to report or reduce embodied carbon have been considered. There is no evidence to suggest that any passive measures were taken to reduce the inherent energy consumption, other than an ‘ambition’ to meet the minimum standards of the Building Regulations, and only where they have to, ie, not in the listed building element.The proposals appear to suggest that gas-fired boilers will be used despite heat pumps being feasible. Gas-fired boilers that do not take advantage of the decarbonising electrical grid and will contribute to Manchester’s already poor air quality
The only environmental target is a measly BREEAM Very Good, and a commitment to scrape through Building Regulations absolute minimum requirements. So why isn’t MCC enforcing the drive for electrification, and instead continuing to permit fossil fuel consumption, and why isn’t its designers even doing the bare minimum to mitigate the climate emergency declared? Why is the council allowing such a generic and vague ‘Environmental Standards Statement’ pass?
How can we hope to combat the climate emergency if planning departments are not going to enforce such an improvement in standards?
By Anon
I really do question if all this is needed. There is a plethora of empty office space in the area and 1 Angel Square is currently underoccupied due to home working (which looks like it is with us for the foreseeable).
Additionally, the new buildings are uninspiring compared with 1 Angel Square, which really is one of the UK’s best modern buildings. Angel Gardens is the only other complete building which, sadly, looks like a re-clad block of council flats. This is a missed opportunity for a really high-quality district in a forgotten corner of Manchester.
By Observer