Student Castle announces 55-storey Manchester tower
The university living specialist has revealed plans for its second tower in the city, to be built on a multi-storey car park site in Hulme Street, neighbouring its first Manchester development.
Designed by Glenn Howells Architects, the building will feature 850 studio apartments, and will be faced with “contextual Manchester red brick”. A planning application has been lodged.
A planning application has been lodged for the 165m building, which will also include 6,000 sq ft of communal and ancillary spaces for student use and 259 secure cycle storage spaces, along with an 8,000 sq ft co-working space for SMEs. There will also be a common area on the top floor of the Hulme Street building
The existing multi-storey car park will be partially deconstructed and the car park reconfigured to accommodate the development..
Student Castle’s proposed development immediately neighbours the 37-storey building completed by it at 1 Great Marlborough Street, a 525-apartment scheme designed by Hodder + Partners – this was completed in 2013, before being sold to Liberty Living along with four other Student Castle sites in August 2015.
CGI provided by Student Castle and Glenn Howells
In 2017, Unite Students brought forward plans for a tower in nearby New Wakefield Street, securing a consent in April to add two further floors. At 32 storeys, this will include 603 student beds and is to be delivered on the footprint of two former buildings including the Soundcontrol nightclub.
Deloitte is the planning consultant on Hulme Street, WSP the structural and M&E engineer, with Aecom engaged as project manager.
Student Castle, founded by Edward Cade and Jacqui Hawthorn in 2010, intends to open the scheme towards the end of 2022. The development vehicle is GMS (Parking) Ltd, of which both Cade and Hawthorn are listed as directors.
Cade said: “The building will become a new Manchester landmark and provide spectacular views over the city.
“The building also presents a significant windfall opportunity to redevelop a portion of an existing multi-storey car park adjacent to Manchester Oxford Road Station into a fully managed purpose-built student residence.”
The developer said that the height of the tower has been arrived at following consultation with the Places Matter design panel and Historic England. The proposals have also undergone an extensive local authority, statutory and public design review and consultation process, it said.
Alan McCartney, studio director for Glenn Howells Architects, said: “The design proposes a contemporary interpretation of the contextual red brick buildings present in and around Manchester.”
Ed Britton, assistant director of Deloitte Real Estate, said: “The Hulme Street project will directly meet the need to improve and increase Manchester’s range of student accommodation.
“The SME incubator space will help nurture growing businesses and supports the strategic growth objectives of the city and Oxford Road Corridor. The scheme demonstrates exceptional design quality and will make a positive contribution to the emerging Oxford Road cluster and Manchester’s skyline.”
- Student Castle's Hulme Street proposal, as viewed from Oxford Street
- Unite's New Wakefield Street plan
