Work due to start on major housing scheme

The development at New Cross

Work is due to start on a new residential scheme close to Manchester city centre.

The project in Oldham Road has been designed by Hodder + Partners and includes 274 one, two and three-bedroom apartments in two buildings set around a landscaped courtyard.

International infrastructure investor, Balfour Beatty Investments, and AIG Global Real Estate, part of insurer AIG, are behind the project.

Balfour Beatty Investments acquired the site in January 2016 and secured full planning consent. The financial close of the deal involved the transfer of the land ownership in full to AIG.

Project Architect Alberto Lavela, of Hodder + Partners, said the scheme, which sits in the New Cross regeneration area, includes 3,700 sq ft of ground floor shops.

He said: “This is a very exciting project for Hodder and Partners. The accommodation is split between two opposing blocks separated by a landscaped courtyard, stepping from five storeys above ground level to nine storeys above ground level.

“A single storey pavilion within the courtyard houses a concierge and residents’ gym with onsite car-parking situated in the single storey ‘half in half out’ basement which sits 1500mm below ground level.”

Alberto, who has experience in project development in a variety of sectors, including residential, commercial, offices, heritage and conservation, retail, and master planning, joined Hodder + Partners in 2017.

He added: “The overall scale of each block is dictated by site density restrictions identified within the New Cross Neighbourhood Development Framework, with heights being articulated to respond directly to the listed plot to the North West of the site.”

The start-on-site at Oldham Road comes as Manchester-based architectural practice Hodder + Partners continues to press on with high profile projects including the £200 million mixed-use St Michael’s scheme and RHS Garden Bridgewater.

The practice, led by chairman Stephen Hodder MBE and managing director Claire Hodder, has recently delivered One Cambridge Street and One Regent residential developments for Renaker.

Alberto added: “New Cross is an important area and this development very much fits into Manchester City Council’s New Cross Development Framework. We are looking forward to seeing it completed.”

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