Developer plans twin towers for Ordsall
A DEVELOPER will find out today whether its ambitious proposal to build a pair of towers containing a hotel, offices, and and scores of apartments in the Ordsall area of Salford is to be approved.
Bredale Developments has submitted an outline planning application for a scheme containing a 24-storey tower and a 15-storey tower on a site next to the Exchange Quay Metrolink station.
Bredale is planning to build a 204-bed hotel and 54 aparthotel suites as well as 132 apartments, more than 150,000 sq ft of offices, 13,000 sq ft of leisure and around 8,000 sq ft of retail on the 1.35 acre site, which is currently home to Cygnet House – a depot used by the Post Office.
The four-star hotel and aparthotel suites will be based in the 24-storey tower and the 132 one, two and three-bed apartments will be housed in the 15-storey building. It will be flanked by a smaller nine-storey building containing office space.
Sebastian Tibenham of Pegasus Planning Group told TheBusinessDesk.com that developer Bredale was already engaged in talks with a number of hotel operators and intended to bring discussions forward if the scheme is granted approval.
He said that the area already had a number of major attractions for hotel visitors, including both the Old Trafford football and cricket grounds, Mediacity:UK and The Lowry which made it an attractive place for a hotel.
Tibenham also said the scheme’s mix of uses meant that it is a viable project. He added that Bredale were “fully confident” about the scheme. “They see it as a prestigious, high quality development.”
Planning officers are recommending that the scheme is approved, although there have been a number of challenges to it – not least from the developers of the adjacent Soapworks scheme and the owners of both the Exchange Quay complex and the Metro office building.
The objections were broad-ranging and included an assertion that the scheme was not commercially viable and was therefore unlikely to be built, that the proposal would be an over-development of the site and that it ran contrary to local planning guidelines as it is out of scale with surrounding buildings. There were also objections that the 24-storey would block light to surrounding buildings and have a detrimental impact on the nearby Grade I-listed Ordsall Hall.
The report by the council’s planning officer acknowledged that the proposed scheme “is large in terms of scale and massing”, but said that such a landmark building could contribute towards the redevelopment of the Ordsall Riverside area.
“It is considered that the scheme will provide positive benefits in delivering a mixture of uses to the area, in a sustainable location and with appropriate conditions the proposal will sit alongside the adjacent land uses,” it said.
