Soller’s £21m Northern Quarter office secures planning endorsement
Manchester City Council’s planning officers have recommended the 18-storey office block for approval, as well as Views Holdings’ residential scheme off Withington Road. Councillors will ultimately decide the fate of the two applications next week.
Land bound by Lever Street
Application reference: 139778/FO/2024
Soller Group’s proposed Northern Quarter office would add £20.7m to the local economy during its construction phase, according to a report for Manchester City Council’s planning committee.
Once operational, it could generate 1,044 direct and indirect jobs, the report added.
The scheme itself is focussed on a site bound by Great Ancoats Street, Lever Street, Houldsworth Street, and Little Lever Street. There are a series of buildings that occupy the site currently, which are set for demolition.
The exception would be 32 Great Ancoats Street – a former Bem Brasil that would be restored to its 1930s condition and incorporated into the new office building. The facades of 56 and 58 Lever Street would also be retained.
Looking at the new-build elements, these consist of an 18-storey office block with two amenity-laden basements with 112 cycle storage spaces and shower rooms. There would also be two groundfloor commercial units and a central landscaped courtyard, according to designs by Howells.
There would be 182,900 sq ft of offices provided across the building, as well as collaboration and breakout spaces. Occupiers would have access to a second-floor terrace and a third-floor rooftop terrace.
Soller is targeting a BREEAM rating of Excellent with the project.
In addition to Howells, the project team includes planner AshtonHale, landscape architect Planit, flood risk and drainage expert AKT II, air and noise consultant BWB Consulting, and cost consultant AtkinsRéalis.
Turner and Townsend is the project manager, with Savills and Knight Frank already on board as agents for the property.
E3P, SK Transport, Design for Security, Orion Heritage, SoilTechnics, GTech Surveys, and RJK Consulting also advised on the application. Rounding out the project team are Reform, Brookdale, GIA, Sandy Brown, and Project Four Safety Solutions.
Ollier Smurthwaite is leading on the Views’ scheme design. Credit: via planning documents
136 Withington Road
- Application reference: 136256/FO/2023
This is the second time that Views Holdings’ 35-home project has gone before the Manchester City Council planning committee. It had been on the agenda in November, but a decision was deferred to allow for a site visit.
Like before, the scheme has been recommended for approval. It has a gross development value of £7m, according to a viability statement by Roger Hannah.
The brownfield site in question has had a storied past, operating as a British Red Cross auxiliary hospital from 1914 to 1916. The Red Cross retained ownership of the building until the 1970s when it was sold to Walton Cottage Education Trust and turned into the Nelo James community centre. That centre closed and the site was sold in 2020.
Under designs by Ollier Smurthwaite Architects, the site would be transformed into 31 apartments and four townhouses. There would be 13 one-bed and 18 two-bed flats, while the townhouses would be evenly split between two-bed and three-bed residences.
To accompany the homes are 13 car parking spaces, including two disabled bays and five spaces with electric vehicle charging capability. There are 36 cycle storage spaces.
The project does not include any affordable housing.
Ashton Hale is the planning consultant for the project. The application team also includes Curtins, Redmore Environmental, Amenity Tree Care, Lighthouse Acoustic, GTech Surveys, Smith Marston, and BEK.
Element Sustainability, Bell Munro, Turley, Holloway Jennings, and Renaissance also advised Views on the application.
The Lever Street tower is really horrendous looking- the earlier design didn’t have the step-backs and was significantly better. Great height, great location, glad that they kept the heritage component, but the stepbacks really make it look awful and mess with the look of Great Ancoats Street.
By Tom D
The Soller proposal is a great looking design, I hope it gets built.
By Anonymous
Views have some great approved work in Manchester e.g. Stockport Road. Just hoping they actually get built.
By Anonymous
Will not be built. Will be traded and with a permission granted the site will eventually come forward for residential with the height, scale and massing having been accepted. Do the Soller Group have a track record of delivery???
By Crystal Ball
They are very sneaky with that visualisation, let’s not pretend otherwise. It’s a great looking scheme but to see it in full and how top heavy it is compared to this image – tut tut 😀
By Anonymous
Agreed on the Lever St tower, it’s oppressive!
They have also missed a trick by not retaining everything on the Gt. Ancoats St. frontage.
By Heritage Action
Soller’s NQ ‘tower’ proposal looks awful… No character absolutely bland generic facade and appears to have no consideration of the context (grant you not necessarily the strongest design character around that area).
Getting genuine concern of the new Manchester image…
By Anonymous
@ Tom D The “Look” of Great Ancoats Street LOL!
By Raimondo
@Raimondo- yeah it doesn’t suit the location- look at One Port Street, it actually tries to be contextual and improves GAS. Here the overhangs just look goofy- look at the other renders, this scheme is a mess
By Tom D
This is a terrible proposal are they serious ?
By Mike
The usual criticism on this site is about square boxes……..this sets and has curved corners but it’s still awful…….some people moan about everything and anything. If you can dp better you should get on with it
By Anonymous
Looks OK there but if you see the the full picture the roof is hideous!
By Dan
Lever Street pointless eyesore. There’s offices all over Manchester empty? Substitution only. Don’t build it? Leave the Northern Quarter alone!
By Roberta Upton
I can see what they’re trying to do with that office design, Express building comes to mind. Only problem I have with it is that it’s too big. Five or six floors maybe but Eighteen here seems overdone. Still what do I know? Like everyone else here if I could do it I’d be out there doing it instead of lying in bed putting the world to right.
By Norman Foster
Moaners will always moan…’there’s too many offices’…there’s too many apartments’..’there’s too many buildings in the city when what we want is countryside’. Here’s a thought…move to the countryside.
By Anonymous