Green light for Withington housing scheme.

The proposed development

Manchester City Council has given planning approval for architect OMI’s proposals to redevelop the former Old House at Home pub and car park on Burton Road, Withington, Manchester.

The developer is Britannia Group, which is based in Withington.

Designed by OMI Architects, the scheme is a contemporary re-interpretation of the attractive brick-built Victorian terraces in the surrounding south Manchester streets.

The 12 four-bedroom houses form an attractive street frontage made up of semi-detached and terraced properties, each with on-site private parking and landscaped rear gardens.

The new housing will replace the car park and former pub, which ceased trading last year.

The site presented a number of challenges and OMI worked closely with local residents to develop a sensitive, bespoke design solution that maintained the privacy of adjacent properties while accommodating on-site parking.

Generous front driveways are also provided, respecting the strong building line on Burton Road.

The muted red brick façade is enlivened with pleated brick detailing and deep opening reveals, an appreciative nod to the craftsmanship of the adjacent Victorian housing stock.

A private terrace for the master bedroom is set into the façade at second floor level, animating the street frontage.

The houses vary slightly in plan, providing different layouts to meet a range of buyer preferences.

The internal layouts are all about contemporary family living, with open plan lounge/dining/kitchen areas extending directly onto private garden terraces that will catch the sun.

A spokesperson for OMI Architects said: “The scheme delivers an attractive terrace of family houses that sit comfortably amongst the adjacent Victorian terraces.

“Presently, the pub car park is of poor amenity value and has become a real blot on the landscape.

“This scheme will re-instate a consistent building line and provide attractive house frontages that fully integrate with their surroundings.

“As with all our buildings we try to tease out the essence of a place and arrive at a solution that is both a delight for those that live there and makes a dignified contribution to the street scene that everyone can enjoy.

“There is a strong sense of community in this neighbourhood and bringing forward this site will dramatically transform the area and, hopefully, attract further investment and regeneration opportunities to the benefit of all those that live there.”

The spokesperson added: “OMI is perhaps best known in recent years for its tall apartment buildings that are contributing to Manchester’s ever-changing skyline.

“However, more modest schemes like these, for local developers, are just as important to us and play their part in shaping and improving our city’s residential neighbourhoods.

“These schemes also challenge the bland offering of many of our volume builders who still cling on to tired solutions that have little relevance to either their context, the way people want to live, or what people want their streets to look like.”

Among the firms that assisted in the preparation of the planning application are: DEP Landscape Architecture; Energy Council; NJL Consulting; SCP Transport; Urban Green; and Wardell Armstrong.

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