THING OF THE WEEK

BOXES… Plans for a temporary business park made out of shipping containers have become a little less temporary. Meanwhile Creative was given a three-year planning permission in 2024 for 285 metal boxes providing 46,000 sq ft of affordable workspace on a 3.4-acre site off Bromley Street in Manchester. However, the developer, which is also behind the successful Pollard Yard container office complex, has now signed a 10-year lease on the site and is requesting permission of the planning consent to be extended accordingly.

Located within the Victoria North masterplan, the site is earmarked for redevelopment in the future. A decade-long permission would stretch the definition of meanwhile use and also serves to underline just how long huge regeneration schemes can take to come forward.

Jo Ahmed was among those honoured by the King. Credit: via Deloitte

GONGS… Gareth Southgate’s knighthood has divided opinion among football fans but the ex-England gaffer was just one of the hundreds of individuals given new affixes in the King’s 2025 New Year’s Honours list. In the North West, Olympic gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson added an OBE to her growing collection of gongs while Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire was also awarded an OBE for services to drama. In the business world, Jo Ahmed, partner at Deloitte’s Manchester office, said she was “honoured and humbled” to be given an MBE, while Christine Cort, co-founder of the Manchester International Festival, was handed an OBE for services to the arts and culture.

Designs have been drawn up by Inca, the architect of nearby Old Trafford Cricket Ground. Credit: via planning documents

THIRD TIME LUCKY… Westcombe Group knows all too well how tricky it can be to secure planning consent in Trafford. Despite being backed by the authority’s planning department on two separate occasions, the developer has twice had plans for a hotel on Chester Road rejected. To rub salt in the wounds, the Planning Inspectorate dismissed a pair of attempts to overturn the rejections. Returning for a third bite of the cherry, Westcombe hopes the latest version of the plans will pass muster. Let’s hope so; the project includes the demolition of a gold-tinted office building that surely has no place in the 21st century.

The site will be the city region’s first sustainability campus. Credit: via LCRCA

GOING GREEN… The historic Bowring Park golf course in Knowsley is to become a campus aimed at tackling the climate crisis thanks to a £3.5m investment by regeneration firm Oneday. The company, which leases Bowring Park from the local council, wants the site to become a hub for local businesses, community groups, and educational institutions to come together and collaborate on sustainable practices. It is all very noble, if a little vague, but Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram seems happy. He said the initiative would have a “meaningful impact on implementing ideas that will help us reach our goal of becoming net zero by 2035.” And best of all, if the pressure of trying to stop the world melting becomes too much, one can always unwind with a swift nine holes.

Credit: Placefirst

GEE WHIZZ… Sick of looking at a boring white wall, staff in Placefirst’s Welsh Streets office procured the services of artist Dave Gee to bring a bit of creative verve to the place. The result is one of Gee’s recognisable doodle-style drawings depicting Liverpool with Welsh Streets – Placefirst’s multi-award-winning regeneration project – at its heart.