Manchester’s first Maldron hotel showcased at consultation
Irish hotel operator Dalata has provided more details of its proposed 17-storey hotel opposite Circle Square, designed by SimpsonHaugh and featuring an elevation that steps back in height along Charles Street.
The 17-storey hotel is planned for a plot along Charles Street, roughly opposite the commercial offering at Circle Square and near where Charles Street meets Oxford Road.
Irish hospitality group Dalata will operate the proposed hotel under its four-star Maldron brand in what will be its third hotel in Greater Manchester and its second in the city centre.
At a public consultation held yesterday at the Innside Hotel at First Street, Dalata, the developer Catalyst Capital, the architect, and planner Deloitte provided more details of how and when the project will be delivered.
The main features of the building are an elevation to Charles Street which steps back in height away from the road and Circle Square; the elevation to the rear also features a “cut-through” to respond to the viaduct which links Oxford Road station to Piccadilly.
The treatment to the elevations is yet to be fully decided but the front of the building facing Charles Street is likely to be terracotta-coloured pre-cast concrete while the elevations viewed from Oxford Road will be a masonry grid system, again likely to be in pre-cast concrete.
At 17 storeys, the developer said the design did not “want to be greedy with height” and instead would act as “a neighbour” to Circle Square, with the height being roughly in-line with the completed Vita Student building and the commercial blocks, which are currently under construction.
The hotel, which will have 278 rooms, is designed to take advantage of a growing cluster of development running from First Street via Oxford Road through to Piccadilly. Planners said Bruntwood and Select, the developers behind Circle Square, had been “very supportive” of Dalata’s proposals for the hotel.
A view of the hotel from Oxford Road station
According to Dalata representatives, the Maldron brand is intended to be less “corporate” than its other four-star brand Clayton, which is due to open its first site in the city centre at 55 Portland Street.
This means a large bar and restaurant area, linking to the reception, is proposed as part of the Charles Street project to provide an active frontage to Charles Street and York Street; overall this area covers around 4,000 sq ft on the ground floor, and there will also be meeting rooms on the first floor. No car parking is proposed as part of the site.
Mouncey Street, currently a dead end which runs into the site, is to be stopped up as part of the proposals, while a four-storey commercial building on the site will be knocked down. Planners said a heritage assessment of the Edwardian building had already taken place but it was of “minimal value” having been damaged by fires in 1942 and 2009 with very little of its original internal fabric remaining.
Catalyst Capital, which has a deal in place to buy the site, is due to submit a planning application for the project by the end of January this year, and work could start on site in September next year subject to planning.
A main contractor is yet to be appointed, but the developer said it would likely be a “tier one or two” contractor, with the project going out to tender once the planning application is submitted.
Catalyst Capital is also backing another hotel development in Manchester, the £17m New Cross StayCity, which has been designed by SimpsonHaugh and is being built by Bardsley.
Public views are being invited on the Charles Street hotel and can be sent to consultation@deloitte.co.uk by 17 December 2018.
