Allied London partners with Vita at Enterprise City
Vita is expected to refresh plans for the Nickel and Dime towers, originally set to reach 36 storeys each, after acquiring the plot in Manchester from Allied London.
As part of a new partnership at Enterprise City, Vita has acquired the Nickel and Dime site for an undisclosed sum and will bring forward updated plans in the coming months.
The site has planning consent for two towers of 36 storeys, designed by Denton Corker Marshall and housing 610 apartments. These were originally set to be built by Lendlease under a construction partnership agreement with Allied London, and sit next to Manchester Goods Yard, set to be home to Booking.com’s 200,000 sq ft campus, which is now under construction.
Allied London and Vita have also formed a joint venture to work up a revised masterplan for further residential plots along the River Irwell, within the wider Enterprise City site.
The move is the latest in a series of tweaks and changes to the wider Enterprise City and St John’s masterplan, which has continued to evolve since 2016.
Earlier this year, Place North West revealed Allied London would no longer be progressing with a 54-storey residential tower due to “unresolved development issues”. The developer also further signalled its move away from residential development with the sale of the 1,400-home Trinity Islands site to fellow developer Renaker, as first reported by Place in October last year.
Michael Ingall, chief executive of Allied London, said: “In Vita, we have chosen a partner that shares our ambition for Enterprise City to become the UK’s new home for modern industry, and that has the expertise and capability to deliver state-of-the-art, responsive development across all sectors of living. I’m excited about working together on plans to create an innovative residential offering that will cater to the needs of tomorrow’s workforce.
“It’s no longer a case of just putting up two or three residential towers and hoping they work – I want the offer to be appropriate, sustainable and affordable. Many of our commercial tenants have attested to appropriate accommodation close to the workplace
“For us, the agreement is ideal as it allows us to divest part of our land-holding to a best-in-class operator with plans to bring forward new development quickly, while working in concert with them to help deliver on our overall vision.”
Mark Stott, Vita Group chief executive, added: “We are delighted to be working with Allied London to deliver innovative living spaces for the city’s brightest talent. Enterprise City will be a neighbourhood based around culture, innovation and the future of commerce and deserves world-class accommodation that matches this vision. We look forward to sharing our plans in the coming months.”
Is this just going to be another student accommodation scheme that the planners turn a blind eye to, ala First Street and Circle Square!?!!
By How
Please don’t change the design too much, as the towers look great as they are. Very disappointing if they make them shorter and look like First Street/Circle Square!
By Steve
@How Vita is the parent company (new name for select property, confusing I know). Like the article states expect this to be resi not student accom.
By Anonymous
This development started off as a very exciting prospect for this prime site and has become increasingly tweaked and increasingly disappointing. The loss of the 54 storey skyscraper was a shame.
By Elephant
The city needs more student accom in the centre, like in Liverpool and Leeds
By Floyd
Like How, I foresee this being a scheme that slips through the Council’s water tight no private student accommodation policy. All it needs is a bit of a sob story and Deliotte as planning agent and through it will sail. Then the Council will readopt its no private student accommodation policy again.
By Brass
@Brass – please can you direct me to this ‘no private student accommodation policy’ as I wasn’t aware there was one?
By Neil
it won’t be student it will be co-living….or student in other words.
By Oscar
Don’t ruin the Factory by plonking a huge tower next to it. Give it the setting it deserves. Please.
By Pauleen Hepplethwaite
@Pauleen Hepplethwaite totally agree. The factory will become just another building unless it’s given the public realm it deserves
By Rob