PAG tables plans for 27-storey Manchester tower
Property Alliance Group and Starwood Capital are pushing ahead with the £200m redevelopment of the former Renaissance hotel site. An application seeking consent for the residential element of the three-part plan has been lodged with the city council.
Designed by Jon Matthews Architects, the 27-storey tower on the corner of Deansgate would comprise 300 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
Part of the Premier House office complex at the north of the site is to be demolished for the residential element of the scheme.
The 277,000 sq ft building would be stepped in height with several rooftop terraces, as well as ground-floor retail units totalling 2,100 sq ft.
The scheme also features sandstone precast panels that are textured and patterned to reflect the stonework of the nearby Manchester Cathedral. An earlier iteration of the project featured balconies on the cathedral-facing façade, but they were removed from the plans.
An 8,600 sq ft area of public realm next to the River Irwell could provide space for pop-up food and drink vendors as well as outdoor seating.
Avison Young is the planning consultant and Planit-IE is the landscape architect.
The Renaissance scheme is being delivered by Property Alliance Group in partnership with US-based investor Starwood Capital. They bought the site from developer Urban & Civic for an undisclosed sum earlier this year.
The development is the third and final part of the scheme to go before planners. Credit: via PAG
The JV’s new-build residential tower is just one piece of a three-part plan to revamp the Deansgate site.
The vacant Premier House office building is to be partly demolished and revamped to provide 40,000 sq ft of Grade A office space.
Meanwhile, the 1970s hotel is to be refurbished and operated by SH Hotels & Resorts under its Treehouse brand, providing 206 bedrooms.
The hotel operator is owned by an affiliate of Starwood Capital.
Plans for the hotel and office element have already been given the green light.
Subject to planning approval for the residential phase, the project could complete by 2023.
Why remove the balconies? What possible justification is there for removing this important feature. I do hope it’s not MCC’s planning department applying a shallow aesthetic judgement to a functional aspect of the design.
By Balcony watch
Looks good, just a shame they’re deciding to refurbish the old hotel instead of just banging it down and starting again
By Anon
Looks amazing and loving the unique architecture. will add a great touch to cities skyline!!
By Anonymous
Absolutely brilliant! Get it built. Where was this vision and architectural style when designing 50 Fountain Street?
By Andrew
Not good enough – the whole lot should be demolished and put to public consultation….
Stark 70’s concrete architecture needs to go
So that the river is opened up to boulevards of tres and plants .
By Rod Cleary
@Rod Cleary – We’re in a climate emergency, we can’t go knocking down everything made of concrete and replacing it with more concrete. Whether or not you personally like the look of something isn’t more important than saving carbon emissions where we can. It’s not getting knocked down, everyone needs to move on and get over it, to borrow a line from people in these comments whenever others object to any kind of development
By Alex
Fantastic!, and it’s not a flat top. Now if they can just approve Speakers Corner on the other side this whole area will start to look so much better after years of neglect.
By Anonymous
It looks like a lot of initial public realm improvements along Deansgate have been removed from the three applications lodged to date. Hoping there’s some S106 to re-allocate the redundant road space to public realm linking the medieval quarter to the main section of Deansgate.
By CP
I like how the pictures don’t include Manchester cathedral which will no doubt be like the dark side of the moon if it gets built. Nothing that high should leer over a cathedral
By Tomo
@Tomo, for what reason? Baffles me that some people put the Cathedral on this pedestal that shouldn’t be “leered” over, without any true explanation. Development before religion.
By Anon
Tomo, you should visit Manchester sometime, you’d see this is a long way from ‘leering’ over the cathedral.
By Anonymous
Love the design. Love the sandstone pre-cast panels, great idea.
I am sure the balconies have been removed as the council wont want residents smoking and shouting over the Cathedral during important events. There are various Royals and members of parliament often visiting that part of the City.
Regards the demolition, anyone claiming the existing structure should be knocked down obviously hasnt been to site or thought about the associated cost. It would not be an easy job.
I commend PAG for making the most of what they have and doing what so many others have failed to do before them.
By Logical
Let’s hope the quality of the “sandstone precast panels” is a dramatic improvement over those used on Hotel Brooklyn on Portland Street.
By Anon
Going to be interesting to see the views from Cathedral Gardens and how this tower interacts with the Cathedral. Hopefully the design quality presents a compelling narrative as this looks like the makings of a good scheme.
By Anon
Excellent design
By Monty
@anonymous born and bred Manchester. If you look at the conveniently placed trees on the picture you can see the cathedral. It will sit opposite harvey Nichols. I know where it is and its @anon taking religion out it is still a grade 1 listed building
By Tomo
PAG & Starwood should be applauded for retaining as much of the existing structure as possible, whilst providing much needed residential and office accommodation as well as a world renowned hotel brand… it certainly balances the need of sustainability and commercial demands. Well done.
By Dave Smith