Start nears for Oldham Road apartments

Balfour Beatty Investments’ 274-apartment scheme on Oldham Road to the north of Manchester city centre is heading towards a start on site.

The firm has filed documents with Manchester City Council discharging a planning condition attached to the July 2016 consent, under which project management, quality management, sustainability, site waste and construction phasing plans were required to be lodged with the council.

The scheme, which comprises one, two- and three-bedroom apartments in two blocks around a landscaped courtyard. It includes 3,700 sq ft of ground floor retail fronting Oldham Road and is Balfours’ first foray into the build-to-rent sector. One block will vary in height between eight and 10 storeys, with the other being partly six storeys and partly eight.

It sits within the New Cross area which the council sees as a development priority, having approved £6.8m in public realm improvements last November.

Hodder + Partners has designed the scheme, with Gillespies engaged as landscape architect. Curtins is working on the project as structural engineer.