MMU plans 2,330-bed overhaul of Cambridge Halls
Manchester Metropolitan University and Unite Students want to demolish the student housing blocks at its All Saints Campus and deliver a much denser scheme to address a shortage of accommodation for learners.
The two four-storey blocks that make up Cambridge Halls were built in the 1990s and offers 770 beds.
The plan is to knock them down and deliver around 2,330 new homes across various buildings, including two towers of 30 and 24 storeys, to make up for a lack of available accommodation.
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Manchester Metropolitan University needs around 5,700 beds every year to meet the demand from its first year and international students, but currently owns around 2,500 beds, according to the university.
The Cambridge Halls scheme will feature both studios and cluster apartments and will allow the university to bring more students into the city centre and ease the pressure on the private rented sector, a move that aligns with Manchester City Council policy.
The project team, which comprises architect Cartwright Pickard, Turley as planner, Waterman Group, and Reform as landscape architect, has today launched a consultation on the plans.
The public consultation will run from today until Wednesday 19 February. A live public webinar will be held on Thursday 6 February at 6pm and a public drop-in event at the Students’ Union, Higher Cambridge Street on Wednesday 12 February between 3pm-7pm.
MMU and Unite’s plans for the All Saints Campus are similar to those devised by rival university, the University of Manchester, in Fallowfield.
There, a £400m redevelopment of the university’s Owens Park campus is in the works. Last year, Viridis, a JV between Equitix, Graham Construction, and Derwent FM was picked to deliver the project, which will see 3,300 student beds delivered – an increase of around 900 compared to what is there now.
After zero starts on site for PBSA schemes in 2022, Manchester’s pipeline of student housing projects has grown significantly. The largest scheme currently under construction in the city is IQ’s 1,200-bed Echo Street project.
Meanwhile, there are thousands more units with planning consent, including Student Roost’s 1,000-bed Medlock Street tower and another 2,000 at Upper Brook Street.
A report published by CBRE in 2023 described PBSA in Manchester as “one of the most sought-after real estate markets in the UK” due to a chronic under-supply of stock.
