FEC promises ‘landmark’ Angelgate scheme as architect appointed

Far East Consortium has picked HawkinsBrown to help deliver an “entirely new” residential scheme on the site on Manchester’s Dantzic Street, purchased from collapsed developer Pinnacle Angelgate last year.

FEC is now looking to bring forward a re-brand and a refreshed planning application for what it says will be a “landmark residential development” on the two-acre plot on the edge of the city centre.

HawkinsBrown’s appointment signals the start of the first project on the wider £1bn Northern Gateway scheme, which stretches from Victoria Station to Collyhurst and is due to include around 15,000 homes; FEC is Manchester City Council’s development partner for the masterplan.

Angelgate sits within the proposed Red Bank neighbourhood under the masterplan, which has been drawn up by Farrells. Red Bank is also set to feature a “Brewery Quarter” while the existing Red Bank viaduct is due to be brought back into use as a park, using New York’s High Line as a design precedent.

The Angelgate site has remained derelict since Pinnacle Angelgate entered administration in September 2017.

The previous plans for the site were for a £77m, 344-home scheme over two towers. Work started on site but ground to a halt in 2016 after the project’s original contractor, PHD1, entered administration; the developer’s administration followed soon after.

Pinnacle Angelgate’s administrators, Moore Stephens, brought the site to auction after failing to a receive a feasible proposal to build out the site as planned; FEC purchased the site at auction for £5.2m, being the only developer to make a firm bid.

Since the purchase, the Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into Pinnacle Angelgate and the stalled development on the site, but it is understood FEC’s proposals will not be impacted by the SFO’s probe.

Hilary Brett, development manager at FEC, said: “Having successfully acquired the first key site within the Northern Gateway, we are preparing exciting plans for an entirely new landmark residential development and intend to submit a planning application to Manchester City Council during 2019.

“Our selection of HawkinsBrown as project architect on Dantzic Street, combined with Farrells’ masterplan vision for Northern Gateway, brings a wealth of expertise and knowledge to the delivery of another new residential destination in the ongoing transformation of central Manchester as a place where people want to live and work.”

Katie Tonkinson, partner and head of Studio North at HawkinsBrown, said “We are really excited to be working with FEC at Dantzic Street, laying the foundations for the Northern Gateway, regenerating neighbourhoods, blending and building new communities and delivering well designed homes for people.”