£24.2m student skyscraper planned for city centre

A 37-storey student tower block that will sit next to Oxford Road train station is awaiting a planning decision from Manchester City Council.

The New Wakefield Street development will have 33 storeys of student accommodation plus a three-bed apartment at roof level, taking the building to the equivalent of 37 storeys.

At 111m high, the New Wakefield tower is thought to be the second tallest residential tower block in the city, after the Beetham Tower.

Manchester-based architect firm Hodder and Partners has designed the building for developer Allied Developments.

It is expected to cost around £24.2m, according to notes written on the submitted planning application.

The tower block will have a total of 525 ensuite bedrooms, in 106 clusters of five or six bedrooms, which will share a common room and kitchen.

The three-bed penthouse apartment is expected to appeal to particularly well off student tenants, Jon Davies of Hodder and Partners told TheBusinessDesk.

Space on the ground floor could be used as a common room or sublet as retail space, he added.

Mr Davies said: “The scheme will create a significant urban landmark to signpost Oxford Road station which remains the only one of the four Manchester stations not ‘landmarked’.

“From key gateway vistas, the scheme would complement the dispersed array of towers which currently demarcate the city’s major hubs while being sensitive to the more immediate context via its slender profile and architectural treatment.”

A planning decision is expected from Manchester City Council in March, with working starting on site in June.