Work on Botanical Gardens stalled last year. Credit: via planning documents

Investar set for Trafford approval

The developer plans to build 149 apartments and redevelop a Victorian villa for office space on a site in Talbot Road, Stretford.

Investar Property Group’s site currently houses three vacant office buildings at 64-66 Talbot Road and Botanical Avenue.

The £32m plans, which officers are minded to grant subject to legal agreements, were revealed in summer 2020 after Investar bought the site in 2019 from property management company XYZ.

Billed by Investar as Botanical Gardens, the scheme is designed by Tim Groom Architects, with Avison Young acting as planning consultant.

The only building to be retained will be the villa at 64 Talbot Road, which will house office space of 3,600 sq ft.

The residential element of the scheme will come in two buildings, of six and 11-13 storeys. Theere will be 77 one-bedroom apartments, 65 two-bedroom apartments, three three-bedroom apartments and four four-bedroom apartments.

On each side of the site sit the Oakwood House 15-storey office block, and apartments in a former office building. The six-storey Block A will front Talbot Road alongside the retained villa, with the taller Block B to the rear of the site, which backs onto the White City retail park.

The project team also includes Scott Hughes Design, Zerum MEP and Rider Levett Bucknall, as well as BB7 Fire, Curtins, Randall Thorp and Gray Scanlan Hill.

Donald Insall Associates, Wardell Armstrong and BWB Consulting, alongside Bowland Ecology Urban Microclimate, Cushman & Wakefield and JMW Solicitors, have also worked on the project.

According to the Trafford Council officer’s report, 10% of the scheme will be delivered as affordable, with Investar also committing to contributions on primary and secondary education, green space and outdoor sports.

Investsr has discovered a liking for the area: in September it exchanged contracts to buy Paragon House in Old Trafford from Bruntwood. The developer also won consent in November for a 400-plus apartment scheme in Stockport.

Trafford’s planning committee meets next Thursday.

Block B Botanical Investar

Block B will sit at the sites rear

Your Comments

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Just horrific. This used to be such a fine road that has been butchered by unsympathetic development (this will be no exception).

By Observer

It was a fine road before the 1960s. The modernist offices this replaces are much better. This area needs life that new apartments will bring. Bring on the wider Trafford Civic Quarter.

By Status Quo

Why office space lots of empty ones

By ART

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