Ian Simpson block set for green light despite opposition

TOWN Centre Securities’ Ian Simpson-designed block in Manchester’s Northern Quarter is likely to be approved this week despite opposition from nearby residents.

The company has submitted plans for an 11-storey, 91-apartment building overlooking the Rochdale Canal at off Tariff Street at Piccadilly Basin.

The land is classed as brownfield but it has been landscaped and grassed over and is used as open space.

The council has received around 50 objections, mainly from people living in nearby buildings, including the grade II-listed Jackson’s Warehouse, who say the new block would be too big, block light and take-up valuable open space.

Piccadilly Basin has been owned by Leeds-based Town Centre Securities (TCS) since the late 1960s as part of the Arnold Ziff’s (founder of TCS) ownership of the Rochdale Canal Company. The company has said the plot was always “a key site” in its original masterplan.

In a report prepared ahead of the meeting, the council’s planning team said: “A number of residents have expressed concern about the quantum of development. The scale and height of the building is larger than its immediate neighbours but this of itself does not mean that it is unacceptable.

“The impact on residential amenity and on adjacent buildings including heritage assets would be acceptable and the scheme would be consistent with the original masterplan. It is likely that more high density schemes will be brought forward in the city centre in order to deliver the city council’s housing targets over the next 20 years.

The scheme does not include any affordable housing and TCS has told the council it would not be viable if it had to make a contribution to affordable homes elsewhere in the city, or a section 106 payment, which is usually used for environmental improvements or pay for other amenities.

The council said the proposal justifies a “flexible” approach, and noted TCS had already carried out extensive public realm works to Piccadilly Basin. GMI Construction Group is the development partner and Deloitte is the planning consultant for the scheme.

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