McLaren’s Manchester student project tipped for consent 

The 318-bedroom scheme is up for approval alongside a Lidl supermarket in Chorlton and a retirement development in West Didsbury. 

St Gabriel’s Lodge 

The new-build elements will bookend the retained buildings. Credit: via consultation documents

Developer: McLaren Property  

Architect: SimpsonHaugh   

Planner: Avison Young  

Planning reference: 135278/FO/2022 

The project would see the creation of 318 student bedrooms on the site of St Gabriel’s Lodge off Oxford Road.   

McLaren Property’s scheme features a mix of studios and cluster apartments delivered across refurbished and new-build elements.   

The derelict modern extension to St Gabriel’s Lodge would be demolished, as will St David’s Church Hall, making way for a pair of four-storey blocks that bookend the site.   

Woodthorpe Hall and the original St Gabriel’s Lodge and church would be retained and redeveloped.   

None of the buildings on the Oxford Place plot are listed. The site was previously used as female-only accommodation for students at the University of Manchester.   

Manchester City Council’s planning committee deferred the application last month, with members saying they were minded to refuse the proposals. 

The committee was concerned about the amount of disabled parking spaces proposed. 

Since then, McLaren has revised the project, providing a an additional two spaces for disabled students, a total of four. 

On nearby Upper Brook Street, McLaren is drawing up a masterplan for a major mixed-use scheme, which could feature a 600-bed student development and a life sciences facility to be operated by Kadans. 

Chorlton Lidl 

The supermarket would have a 14,000 sales area plus car parking. Credit: via Lidl

Developer: Lidl UK  

Architect: Space Architects  

Planner: Rapleys  

Planning reference: 135647/FO/2022 

Lidl acquired the plot on the junction of Mauldeth Road West and Nell Lane in Chorlton from PJD Holdings for £4m last year.  

The discount retailer wants to build a 22,000 sq ft supermarket on the plot.  

The site is currently occupied by the 27,000 sq ft Lowry House office building. 

Under the plans, the new supermarket would have a 14,000 internal sales area featuring an in-store bakery and customer toilets, as well as 88 car parking spaces.  

The store would feature “a contemporary building design that will benefit the surrounding area”, according to Lidl.  

The new store forms part of Lidl’s ongoing £1.3bn investment across the country made this year and last.  

West Didsbury retirement home

A larger iteration was refused in 2021. Credit: via planning documents

Developer: McCarthy & Stone 

Architect: MCK Commercial Design 

Planner: The Planning Bureau 

Planning reference: 134946/FO/2022 

The retirement living developer wants to build a 26-apartment complex on the corner of Spath Road and Lancaster Road. 

The one-acre site is currently occupied by a five-bedroom detached property, which would be demolished under McCarthy & Stone’s proposals. 

Manchester City Council’s planning committee deferred the application last month, with members saying they were minded to refuse the proposals. 

The committee was concerned about the impact of the development’s scale and mass and a lack of on-site car parking provision. 

Since then, the developer has reduced the height of the scheme by two metres and increased the number of parking spaces from 20 to 26. 

McCarthy & Stone’s scheme will return to committee next week with a recommendation to approve from planning officers. 

The current proposal, which reaches three storeys and comprises 26 apartments, is the second iteration of the scheme. 

In 2020, the developer submitted plans for a 34-unit project reaching four storeys at its highest point, which was refused. 

A subsequent appeal was unsuccessful.