Success for £450m Upper Brook Street masterplan
The four developers behind proposals for almost 2,000 student beds and more than 500,000 sq ft of life sciences workspace in Manchester walked away from the town hall extension victorious after a heated and drawn-out discussion about the scheme.
Property Alliance Group, Moda, McLaren Property Group, and Kadans secured planning approval for the £450m campus but not before the meeting was moved to a different room as a result of unrest in the public gallery.
After a little over 45 minutes, during which Ardwick ward councillors spoke out against the Upper Brook Street development, committee chair Cllr Jon Connor Lyons called a halt to proceedings.
A member of the public could be heard lambasting the city council, whose planning department had recommended the scheme be approved.
The outburst came while head of planning Dave Roscoe was explaining the rationale behind his department’s endorsement of the proposals.
He said Ardwick was suffering from a lack of purpose-built student accommodation that the proposed scheme could help to address.
Around 2,000 more students are living in Ardwick now compared to 10 years ago and during that time only 200 PBSA units have been delivered, according to Roscoe.
Increasing the amount of specialist housing in Ardwick could result in a decrease in council tax exemptions and free up family housing, he added. Roscoe put a 31% drop in council tax exemptions in South Manchester down to increased delivery of PBSA.
The Upper Brook Street development can be split into two parts. The first, being delivered by PAG and Moda, includes 328,000 sq ft of life sciences accommodation and 983 student beds.
The student element was originally 42 storeys but was significantly scaled back to address concerns of local residents. It will still be the tallest element of the scheme and will feature 22% affordable provision.
Next door, McLaren and Kadans want to build 737 student beds within a 23-storey building on the site of the former Citroen garage on Upper Brook Street and a 215,000 sq ft lab complex on the site of Elizabeth Yarwood Court.
The site was previously earmarked for residential development as part of the Brunswick Housing Private Finance Initiative but was withdrawn in 2021 as the city council looked to facilitate regeneration along the Oxford Road Corridor.
The schemes were ultimately approved by eight votes to five – paving the way for one of the city’s largest regeneration schemes. Work is due to start on site later this year.
The firms involved in the development include SimpsonHaugh Architects, Hawkins\Brown, Sheppard Robson, Ashton Hale, and Reform.
What the developers said
Alex Russell, chief executive of Property Alliance Group
“This is a hugely progressive and positive step forward for Manchester, and we are over the moon to play our part in bringing to fruition some of the city’s most important and strategic ambitions.
“Since the inception of plans, to working alongside the incredible team and key stakeholders, to presenting the benefits of the new neighbourhood, the council’s regeneration objectives for the area and the community, have been our central focus. We intend to continue to work closely with our stakeholders and residents, to create an outstanding, connected new area for residents, students and professionals.”
James Blakey, planning and engagement director, Moda Group
“We are delighted the planning committee endorsed the officer recommendation to approve our application so we can deliver our plans to regenerate this part of the city. This is a major step forward for Moda’s growing PBSA pipeline, and the proposals for Upper Brook Street are crucial to support Manchester’s Economic and Investment Growth Strategy as both a city and as a major player within the city region.
“Providing highly managed accommodation will help alleviate the ongoing issue of students living in houses which could be occupied by local residents and families. We have also made a commitment to providing subsidised affordable student accommodation whose occupants will have exactly the same access to on-site facilities and services as everyone else.”
David Atherton, divisional managing director at McLaren Property
“We are thrilled that the planning committee resolved to support our reimagined vision for the regeneration of Upper Brook Street. This is a milestone moment for a project that is a true example of collaboration between developers, the council and wider stakeholders to drive positive change.
“We are now focussed on delivering exemplary buildings and the raft of community benefits that this project will deliver. We look forward to the construction phase and bringing about the long term positive contribution these new buildings and neighbourhood will make to Manchester’s economy.”
Will Fogden, senior development manager at Kadans Science Partner
“It’s exciting to reach this important milestone in the development process. Adopting a philosophy of designing ‘inside-out’ the scheme combines strong architectural language with robust functionality to create an optimum framework for innovation and collaboration.
“We look forward to starting on site in 2024 and delivering on this transformational district that interlinks landscaped routes, ground floor activation and game-changing science.”
Related Articles
Analysis
IN FOCUS | Airport City’s MIX MANCHESTER makeover
After two years of tight-lipped silence, Manchester Airports Group Property Director Gareth Jackson is ready to unveil the reworked and rebranded 60-acre airport site – leaving the world of offices behind in favour of advanced manufacturing, science, and innovation spaces.
This is a good decision. I wasn’t present for this meeting, but heard the objections at the previous meeting when deferred. I can understand why there are concerns in the community and perhaps the scale /interface at parts is a little excessive. But Upper Brook St is an important corridor and it would be wrong not to seek density, scale and uses supporting the University, R&D and students in this location. If not here, then where else?
By RP
Good. Get those spades in the ground and let’s keep this city thriving. These projects need to be considered with the whole city in mind.
By Bob
Disgraceful, we are not living in a democracy but in a right wing northern London for the yuppies
By Peter
Heavens, that’s a lot of development . Still, good for upper Brooke st now all of the old car dealerships are out of the way.
By Anonymous
Ardwick is not “suffering from a lack of student housing”. Ardwick is a housing estate , for social housing, for the community.
By Tracy Stanley
Great to see the resolve here, we still want to grow and to win.
By Rich X
I was at that meeting I feel that the decision was made before the public gallery was open the residence of Ardwick never wanted this development and still don’t
By Ray Nelson
Bussin, great news!
By Will
NIMBYs objecting to new jobs and students living near the university. Surely its going to increase the house prices in this area.
By Anonymous
‘A right wing northern London for the Yuppies? ..😅..or a progressive city that encourages jobs , business and development. Perspective.
By Del Boy
Looks like an excellent proposal.
By Anonymous
That’s the city centre expanding right there . If Manchester is to continue on its massive growth trajectory then this area into the Oxford Rd corridor is prime especially for Life sciences. Great decision.
By Anonymous
Would appreciate objectors comments in addition to the developers. Am I misunderstanding these plans, I genuinely can’t understand the objections.
Brownfield development across the road from one of the largest university clusters in Europe. Less than 1km from one of the UKs biggest rail hubs. Smack bang on a 4 lane A road. It’s not a bucolic rural idyll?
Gets pressure from students off family homes, as the article points out, reduces council tax exemptions so more money in council coffers for adult social care etc.
The skyline on Handworth Close goes from a view of a massive uni building.. to a new view of another massive uni building? Elizabeth Yarwood court has been closed since 2021, & sheltered accomm. can be better located, & better funded thanks to student spend / externalities from the university.
Biggest barrier to Ardwick as far as I’m concerned are the horrendous A road & resulting severance / air quality issues, not investment.
Are objections just a dislike of students or am I missing something?
By Anonymous
The only demand this scheme is meeting is to get as many high paying Chinese students in the city as possible to line the pockets of the universities and developers.At the same time precious land in the city which could be providing housing for young people and families who are the future of the city is given over to house a transient student population that will have virtually zero interaction with local community and businesses.Trying to smear people who object to this as being anti development is nonsense they are in favour of more housing and development that benefits Manchester and it’s people and not developers.
By Bob Smith
The objections are ludicrous. This will have zero impact on the estate next door, if anything it will help reduce pressure on family housing by housing students in purpose build accommodation.
The other thing that the NIMBYs are missing is that this will provide a huge amount of new lab space – essential to attractive decent jobs to the area. Also the outlook from Brunswick is significantly improved compared to the ramshackle car dealerships.
Honestly the objections are just moaning for moanings sake.
By Anonymous
City centre isn’t the place for houses, you’re thinking of the suburbs and this ain’t it. All for more affordable housing whatever that means in reality….not here though.
By Anonymous
Bob Smith, are these the same Chinese students who will use local shops, local pubs local cafes, local restaurants and pay rent and fees to the university who employ lots of local people?
By Anonymous
As a resident on this estate – I can’t wait for this new development to pop up. The abandoned car showrooms are an eyesore on the main road and as a woman, they are scary to walk past at night. This is the most underdeveloped road that leads out of the city centre – it’s about time we had some more towers around here.
Bring on the subsequent shops, bars and restaurants!!
By Resident
The diametrically opposed and emphatic comments (on both sides) suggest something has gone wrong with community liaison at the very least and there needs to be a major effort from the developers and MCC to Bridge this gap rather than triumphalism.
By Peter Black
Residents don’t object to redevelopment
They object to a development that will require a ten year build. Ten years of living next door to a huge building site. This will negatively impact people’s health and well being. But, hey, we’ll have some more glitzy skyscrapers for international students, paying £380 a week (not for your average student) AND a convenience store and a cafe probably another Tesco Express which will be rammed with those students when they’re not shopping at the Chinese supermarket down the road and a Starbucks. All very Blade Runner. Cool.
By Anonymous