Kampus’ brutalist tower wraps up
Comprising 123 apartments, The Stack at Capital & Centric and HBD’s £250m Manchester neighbourhood is the latest element of the five-building scheme to complete.
The brutalist 60s tower was once a business school within the Aytoun Street campus of Manchester Metropolitan University but has been converted as part of the 533-home Kampus development.
As well as the one- and two-bedroom apartments The Stack also features a gym.
Properties within The Stack, designed by interior fit-out firm Youth Studio, are now available to rent. One-bedroom flats start at 1,250 a month and two-bedroom apartments are available from £1,750.
Adam Higgins, co-founder at Capital&Centric, said: “It would have been easier, and probably cheaper, to just tear [The Stack] down but we didn’t want to lose that piece of history.
“It also had some amazing design features that we kept, like the waffle ceilings, which give the apartments tons of character. The Kampus neighbourhood is really coming to life, and I can’t think of anything else like it in Manchester.”
The original concrete waffle ceilings were retained Credit: Capital&Centric
Aside from The Stack there are four more residential buildings at Kampus.
Apartments in North Block, one of two new-build elements of the project, launched in March, while those in South Block, the second new-build portion, will be available later this year.
Work to convert two former shipping warehouses, Minto & Turner and Minshull Warehouse, is ongoing.
The buildings sit around a central garden designed by Exterior Architecture and the 40,000 sq ft of commercial units are filling up.
So far, boutique corner shop General Stores, pizzeria and pub concept Common & Co, and bakery/florist Bread Flower have signed at the site.
Capital & Centric and HBD bought the 2.3-acre site for around £9m in March 2014, beating off competition from Bruntwood, Allied London and Ask, among others.
The JV then appointed Dutch architect Mecanoo to design the scheme, which won planning approval in September 2016.
London-based contractor Mount Anvil was selected as lead contractor and started work in 2017.
Liverpool-based architect ShedKM was appointed to lead on the design of the listed warehouses while fellow architect Chapman Taylor was also drafted in to oversee the delivery of the new-build elements of the project.
The project was forward funded by Ares Investment.
Can somebody tell me if you are out there – who has £15,000 a year to rent a one bedroom apartment in Manchester?
What do they do for work? There is obviously a market for it or I am just underpaid?
By Anonymous
Anonymous at 12,38pm @ 1,250 a month for a flat. it’s roughly the going rate now for 1 bed cosy brand new appartments right in the centre of Manchester. There is much cheaper appartments available on the outskirts and surrounding areas. Okay mate
By Darren Born Bred
£31,500 average UK salary, £2,090 per month after tax. Two people sharing a flat equates to £625/m rent each. No car or gym costs. It works for many.
By Anon