Key city centre schemes given planning green light

Plans for the Pollard Street scheme

Planning applications for two key city centre schemes have been approved by Manchester City Council.

A workplace campus in Pollard Street, East Manchester for small and medium-sized businesses to form, scale and thrive, was passed, as was asset manager, Aberdeen Standard Investments’ bid to redevelop 2-4 Whitworth Street West into a 152-room hotel.

The Pollard Street development by creative-led developer General Projects will play a key role in the city’s economic revival from the COVID-19 pandemic, it says, not only creating 3,600 jobs, but unlocking a £5m investment in more than two acres of high-quality, accessible and safe green space and delivering significant social value benefits for the local community.

Zero carbon and delivering increased biodiversity with the planting of 55 mature trees, the development in New Islington comprises five buildings surrounded by two acres of public green space with access to the Ashton Canal.

Jacob Loftus, founder and CEO of General Projects, said: “We are thrilled to have received planning consent today, and look forward to starting to deliver an incredible, inclusive and sustainable place for business to thrive in East Manchester.

“Our desire to engage with, and work collaboratively with, the local community does not end here. We recognise that some of our immediate neighbours opposed our proposals and sincerely hope we can move forward positively, working together to co-create the public realm of what I want to be the most socially-impactful property development in the UK.”

The scheme will ensure more than £8m of social impact value over the next five years.

Inspired by the city’s historic cotton and textile mills, the development, designed by architects Hawkins\Brown and landscape architects Planit.IE, aims to set a new standard in the built environment for sustainability.

Katie Tonkinson, partner at Hawkins\Brown and head of Studio North, said: “This is an important scheme for Manchester, delivering much-needed, high-quality and modern workspace for creatives and businesses of all scales.

“Our approach connects modern industry to the heritage of New Islington through the creation of five adaptable and versatile buildings. The collection of buildings provides the infrastructure to facilitate collaboration and community. The site’s proximity to the Metrolink and the canal offers a unique opportunity to connect the neighbourhood back to the public realm with two acres of new public green space.”

Meanwhile, the Aberdeen Investments scheme, working alongside Glenn Howells Architects and JLL, will inject an investment of more than £17m into the Whitworth Street West area to construct a mixed-use seven-storey building comprising retail and food and drink outlets at ground level, with the hotel on the upper storeys.

It is expected work will begin in Summer 2021.

The hotel has potential to welcome more than 90,000 visitors per year spending an estimated £8.1m in the local economy, which is equivalent to an annual GVA contribution of £2.7m.

Plans for Whitworth Street West/Deansgate Locks

“The construction phase is expected to generate 197 jobs and more than 50 jobs will be created by the hotel and ground floor retail and leisure units.

Stuart Howard, senior development manager, Aberdeen Standard Investments, said: “We are pleased our development plans for 2-4 Whitworth Street West have been approved. The new hotel, combined with the retail and leisure spaces, will bring a new vibrancy to this important street in the city.”

Sandeep Shambi, partner, Glenn Howells Architects, said: “We’re delighted our plans for Whitworth Street West have been given the go ahead today. Our design takes inspiration from buildings of Manchester’s past in terms of their scale, proportions and the use of traditional materials, which we are using in a contemporary way to create a well-crafted masonry building that responds confidently to the emerging scale of the wider area.

“We have worked closely with the local authority to ensure the proposals are appropriate to the setting and provide a much-needed animated use and frontage that compliments Deansgate Locks.”

JLL act as planning consultant and project manager for the development.

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