Ordsall twin towers project approved
BREDALE Properties is to work up plans to build a pair of towers in Ordsall after gaining approval for the scheme last week.
The Northern Irish company had re-submitted an earlier application to build a pair of towers in Ordsall close to the Exchange Quay tram station and Carlyle Group’s Soapworks development after its initial application was rejected in July.
At the time, members of the planning committee rejected recommended plans to build a major mixed-use scheme on the site containing a 15- and a 23-storey tower, citing concerns about a lack of parking and that the proposals would lead to the site being overdeveloped.
However, Bredale Properties altered its application (reducing the number of aparthotel suites) and once again gained a recommendation from planning officers before the project was approved by Salford City Council last week.
Bredale Properties now plans to work up its proposals for the site, which include construction of a 204-bed hotel, 45 aparthotel suites, 150,000 sq ft of offices, 13,000 sq ft of leisure and around 8,000 sq ft of retail.
The 23-storey tower will contain the hotel and aparthotels and will have two 17 and 16-storey wings. It will link to a 4-storey podium at ground floor level and basement car parking.
The adjacent 15-storey tower will contain retail on the ground floor, offices from first to fourth and apartments above. It will be flanked by a nine-storey tower.
The scheme had received objections both from the developers of the Soapworks scheme and from a trustee of the Exchange Quay Master Trust, which owns the nearby Exchange Quays office scheme. Other objections had come from a representative of mobile network operator Everything Everywhere, residents at the XQ7 apartment scheme and from the nearby Copthorne Hotel.
Sebastian Tibenham of Bredale Developments’ planning consultancy, Pegasus Planning, said that it hoped to tie up paperwork regarding Section 106 agreements in January before marketing the scheme to a hotelier.
It will then look to submit a reserved matters application for various elements of the scheme in the early part of next year.
