Manchester signs off six city schemes
A nine-block residential development and the refurbishment of the Bonded Warehouse at Allied London’s St John’s have been approved by Manchester City Council, despite a request from MOSI to defer the decision as the schemes “have not been considered thoroughly”.
The first phase of the Village at the former ITV Granada site will include 66,700 sq ft of apartments, 80,000 sq ft of workspace, and 36,500 sq ft of retail units across nine buildings. SimpsonHaugh & Partners is the architect. The construction of the apartments will see the demolition of the former Coronation Street set, which was approved against the wishes of campaigners who on Wednesday submitted an eleventh hour plea to the council to delay a decision.
The refurbishment of the Bonded Warehouse will deliver flexible workspaces, restaurants and leisure, designed by Buckley Gray Yeoman.
The nearby Museum of Science & Industry submitted a late representation to the council ahead of its planning committee meeting on Thursday 15 October, which said that the scale, height, proposal and proximity to the museum, and the building materials “had not been considered thoroughly within the proper context and a justification has not been provided”.
Allied London’s conversion of the Old Granada Studios headquarters into a 150-bedroom event hotel known as Manchester Grande, designed by Levitt Bernstein, was also approved.
The planning committee also signed off the redevelopment of 40 Fountain Street into an 86,000 sq ft office to be called 11 York Street by Aberdeen Asset Management, designed by AHR Architects; the construction of 191 apartments at Potato Wharf in Castlefield by Lend Lease; and 30 townhouses and apartments and 100 car parking spaces off Cutting Room Square in Ancoats, the third site to be brought forward by Manchester Life.
The committee’s decision on plans for a 35-storey tower made up of 330 apartments for private rent at 10-12 Whitworth Street West by Brigantes was deferred until the next meeting on the 19 November. The development was designed by 5plus Architects.
The end of the Coronation street set is a decision these soulless people will live to regret.Imagine the tourists who would flock to drink in that iconic pub.Was it this same group who thought it appropriate to ruin the library ginnel with a shopping centre vestibule?
By Elephant
this is coronation street, not the location of the sermon on the mount for crying out loud. drop it and get on with replacing it with economy enhancing development.
By Confused
Depends what you mean by “economy enhancing”… in the long term, Manchester needs to retain some sense of identity and heritage. Its already become too much a city of blandness
By James
Nonsense, what has become bland about Manchester is recent times? It’s a lot less bland than it was twenty years, there’s still very much a sense of identity and heritage without a set of some soap opera that isn’t even used anymore. The Granada development is excellent and far from bland.
By Prestatyn
The architecture is bland and there’s no open space.
By James
There is some great modern architecture in Manchester, have a look at the other regional cities to compare, at least there has been stuff built in recent times. There is a fair bit of open space too, Albert Square is a great central point.
By Prestatyn
I think all the ‘clever’ designers that are available should be able to design the scheme to keep some of the key features of the existing coronation street, such as the rovers. Lets face it apart from that 10m x 20m plot the rest of the scheme is pretty much a blank canvas. Can you imagine how popular the building could be if retained and renovated into a real bar. Keeping some history and using the popularity of the programme and mixing new with old. The place would be rammed 7 days a week by tourists, much better than yet another pret a manger with a 100% glazed featureless shop frontage.
By Anon
Like it or not Coronation Street is a large part of the recent history of the city, as is Manchester United and Manchester City, those who disagree are doing so for purely snobbish reasons. If we have an opportunity to retain an element of this history then I think it should be done. If you go abroad and mention you are from Manchester, you usually get ‘Man Utd, or Coronation Street’ mentioned by a taxi driver or hotel receptionist.
I am not saying keep the whole street, but do our best to retain the best known parts of it. If we don’t, I think it will be regretted in the future. If we cannot build around, could we not look at something outside the box such as relocating, similar to how Sinclairs was relocated ? There you go, an option to digest……..and I wont charge £100k fees for coming up with it !!!
By Anon
I’m really looking forward to seeing this develop. There’s not much going on in that area of the city & it will be great to see it come to life. I personally am not interested in the Coronation Street set & I think that Manchester has more to offer than that. Each to their own it means the world to my friend & he’s devastated that it’s being demolished. In terms of open space I believe as part of the St John’s master plan there will be some open space & greenery around, check out the plans & info on their website I think it’ll be a fantastic new neighbourhood!
http://stjohnsmanchester.com/masterplan/
By Francesca
I believe there was a condition an the sale of the site that the set was demolished (which has not being made public – this is informed speculation). ITV will obviously want to get revenue from the tours of the current Coronation Street set at their new site.
By Bradford
The heritage of the site is preserved in the Granada HQ building and the studios not an ephemeral TV set. The Rovers Return is not a real building for goodness sake. The important heritage assets are therefore being preserved. The only problematic bit of the plan is the smaller of the proposed towers that threatens to undermine the setting of the new Factory theatre.
By D Rachid