Henry Boot granted consent for Courthouse

Henry Boot Developments has successfully secured planning approval for its redevelopment of the former County Courts building on Manchester's Deansgate.

The Grade 2-listed building will be transformed into 13,500 sq ft of offices and 14,000 sq ft of retail and leisure accommodation and will be known as the Courthouse.

Adam Brady, head of Henry Boot Developments' Manchester office, said: "Built over 100 years ago, we are determined to maintain as many of the original features of the old building as possible, while providing occupiers with modern, high quality space for their business.

"Unlike many developers in the current market, we are in the fortunate position of being self-funded and therefore do not need to rely on external sources of finance to progress the scheme. Now that the planning approval is in place, we will be working hard to get things moving."

Henry Boot Developments was advised by NJL's planning and sustainability team to ensure the scheme met Manchester City Council's requirement for BREEAM 'very good'. The proposals aim to reduce the building's carbon dioxide emissions by 20%.

Due to the site's location the building is subject to high levels of air and noise pollution precluding a natural ventilation strategy. When undertaking the feasibility appraisal of low carbon technologies, the orientation, layout and listed status were considered.

Solutions include a combination of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, highly efficient variable flow refrigerant heating and cooling systems, energy metering and effective control systems and energy efficient lighting.

NJL worked with English Heritage to determine the extent of any alterations to the listed building. The original roof structure and windows will all be retained as part of this process which constrained the potential energy reductions. Where the historic windows are deemed to be beyond repair these will be replaced in kind.

Appointed office agents are Matthews & Goodman and DTZ, while Cheetham & Mortimer and DMR Richtrend have been instructed to let the leisure and retail units.

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