Three major regen projects approved
A TRIO of major regeneration projects in Manchester are set to go ahead in the New Year after gaining approval from the city’s planning committee yesterday.
Manchester City’s plans for the Etihad Campus – containing a series of player facilities, a sports medicine institute, a 7,000-seat arena and a large sixth-form college – on the former Clayton Aniline site on land off Alan Turing Way was approved. A Compulsory Purchase Order for the site has already been issued.
Also, a joint application from the Co-operative Group and Standish-based Denizen Contracts to build a £26m hotel in a curved tower development above 
City Buildings near Victoria Station was given the green light. The 178-bed hotel will be operated by Liverpool-based Sanguine Hospitality under its Hotel Indigo brand, with a Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill at ground floor level.
Finally, Realty Estates’ £35m plan to redevelop its iconic Gateway House building at the approach to Piccadilly station got the go-ahead.
Realty Estates is currently in the final stages of negotiations with two hotel operators. It expects to have a preferred operator in place next month and to make a start on site with the project in May 2012. The redevelopment has been designed by architectural practice Hodder & Partners.
Meanwhile, a decision on a fourth major scheme – a new research lab at Manchester’s Christie Hospital – has been deferred until the New Year.
Its proposal to build a new three-storey research lab on an existing surface car park fronting Wilmslow Road and to add a new 752-space car park had received more than 140 objections to it from local residents, some of whom argued that The Christie had not carried out proper consultation with neighbours before submitting plans.
