PLANNING | Renaker’s £370m Manchester towers greenlit

Along with the 988-home Great Jackson Street scheme, approvals were secured by Capital&Centric and Latimer, and for controversial plans at Hough End playing fields.

Initially, this was among the feistier of recent Manchester committees, with uproar in the chamber at the approval of Hough End in the face of strong opposition locally.

In addition, Liberal Democrat Cllr John Leech was particularly critical of the lack of affordable housing in profitable developments – the Section 106 agreement suggested for the Renaker development approved at the session is a commuted sum of just £90,000.

He said: “Yet again, not a single home is affordable here – those writing the viability assessments are certainly earning their keep”. Cllr John Flanagan agreed, calling the £90,000 sum “an insult”.

MCC planning development manager Dave Roscoe said that although officers shared members’ frustrations over delivering affordable homes, the assessments don’t lie. He said: “Every single line in these viability assessments is scrutinised at length. It’s a transparent process, and the numbers are what they are.”

Great Ducie Street

Assael Architecture designed the scheme. Credit: via planning documents

Developer: Latimer, the development arm of Clarion Housing Association 

Architect: Assael Architecture 

Planner: Deloitte  

Latimer’s £127m scheme, at the former Boddington’s brewery site, will see 461 homes across two blocks, one reaching 27 storeys and the other topping out at 11 storeys. The developer has pledged that the project will feature 60% affordable provision through a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom properties.

Under plans lodged in December, Latimer put forward proposals for 5% affordable provision but insisted it was “firmly committed” to upping this to 60% in the long run. “The remaining 55%…will be delivered with the support of grant funding from Clarion’s partnership with Homes England,” the company said. The plot is currently used as a surface car park.   

The land, part of a wider seven-acre plot, was deemed surplus to requirements by Manchester College operator LTE Group, which is developing a new £93m city centre campus next door.  

Richard Cook, group director of development at Clarion, said: “We are thrilled to get the green light to redevelop this iconic site in Manchester. Delivering the Boddingtons scheme will enable us to provide a range of housing options to local people across the city.”

Plot F, Great Jackson Street

The towers include 988 flats. Credit: via Renaker

Developer: Renaker

Architect: SimpsonHaugh

Planner: Deloitte

Renaker’s latest tower project features 988 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments in a pair of 51-storey towers.

Both towers feature chamfered edges, incrementally increasing and decreasing every five storeys, creating a dynamic vertical movement up the tower, according to the developer. 

The project has an estimated GVA of £370m. It will cost around £329m to build, based on a predicted developer’s margin of 10.98%, according to Renaker’s viability appraisal. 

Ferrous

BDP is the architect for the scheme. Credit: via Font Comms

Developer: Capital&Centric 

Architect: BDP 

Planner: Zerum 

A 15-storey block featuring 107 apartments is the developer’s latest project within Manchester’s burgeoning Piccadilly East district. The project will feature a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments, plus four flats with three bedrooms. Two retail units totalling 2,000 sq ft, and a multi-use events pavilion called The Cabin are also included in the plans.

Capital&Centric bought the site from Transport for Greater Manchester in February 2020. Ferrous is the developer’s fourth project at Piccadilly East, alongside Crusader Mill, Phoenix and the Leonardo Hotel.  

Hough End redevelopment

The leisure centre is to be expanded. Credit: Ellis Williams

Developer: Manchester City Council

Architect: Ellis Williams

Following criticism of its initial plans, the city council reconsulted on the Princess Road playing fields redevelopment in November, with refreshed plans submitted in December. The project’s main element as originally proposed in April remained: the addition of a two-storey extension to Hough End Leisure Centre to include sports field changing facilities, a café, flexible social rooms and gym space, replacing the currently-closed changing pavilion building.

Elsewhere, the scheme was reduced, mostly in terms of parking provision. The size of the two floodlit 3G sports pitches was also reduced, and a baseball-softball area towards Mauldeth Road West removed from the plans. However, grassroots opposition remained strong up to the committee’s verdict and beyond.