Packaged-Fiera JV wins green light for Castings

Plans for 350 apartments on Heyrod Street within Manchester’s emerging Piccadilly East district have been approved by the city council. 

The Castings build-to-rent project, designed by CallisonRTKL, is to be delivered by a joint venture between developer Packaged Living and investment manager Fiera Real Estate, which bought the plot for £6m last year.  

Under the plans, Packaged Living is to develop a mix of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, as well as 10,000 sq ft of retail and amenity space, a public square and car park.  

A total of 227 apartments will have two bedrooms, 77 will have one bedroom and nine will have three bedrooms. An additional 39 studio apartments are also included under the proposals. 

The project will also feature three roof gardens, a residents’ lounge and entertaining suites that will open onto an area of public realm.   

Mark Woodrow, joint managing director of Packaged Living, said: “The Castings is the next exciting BTR scheme in Packaged Living pipeline, which is now delivering more than 3,000 homes in the multi-family sector across the UK.   

“The scheme represents a fantastic opportunity to create next generation homes developed by an experienced team, at a time where vital investment is needed into our city centres”. 

Turley is the planning consultant and Re-form is the landscape architect. The project team also includes Arcadis, Crookes Walker Consulting and Curtins. 

The Piccadilly East masterplan has already delivered Capital & Centric’s Crusader Mill apartment scheme on Chapeltown Street. 

Piccadilly East is home to several more pipeline residential developments, including Olympian Homes’ The Fairfax – a 488-apartment complex that won planning approval in January 2020 – and Capital & Centric’s Jenga-style Leonardo hotel.