Wrecking ball beckons for Ancoats Dispensary

THE historic Grade II-listed dispensary building of the former Ancoats Hospital building in Manchester looks set to be bulldozed.

Manchester City Council’s planning officers have recommended that a committee due to sit tomorrow approves an application by the building’s owner, Urban Splash, to demolish it.

Ancoats Hospital has been closed since 1989 and the building has been in Urban Splash’s ownership since 2001. The firm had previously planned a project to bring it back to life by putting in around 1800 sq ft of commercial space in the building at 16 apartments.

However, the project was due to receive £1m in funding from the North West Development Agency, which was cut when the coalition government came into power.

Since then, the firm has been forced to remove parts of the building which were deemed by the council to be dangerous, and its roof and central tower have already been taken down.

The proposal has received around 30 objections from residents and conservationists, who argue that the building should be retained and re-used.
One states that Urban Splash has “overseen the deterioration of this listed building for 10 years”, arguing that it had been in the company’s hands for a decade but that it did not apply for funding until 2009/10.

It argued that more should have been done to “stabilise such a historically-significant building”, and that its demolition undermines claims that Urban Splash makes about bringing listed and historic buildings back into use.

However, a spokesperson for Urban Splash said that its decision followed “an exhaustive three-year search for a viable use” for the building, which had included looking at building apartments, offices and even an art gallery.

It said that an independent report funded last year concluded there were no likely buyers for the building and that demolition was being undertaken as a “last straw” for safety reasons.

“Urban Splash take their responsibilities in connection with Ancoats Hospital very seriously and our experience in saving buildings has meant we have explored every conceivable avenue to keep this building in some form,” the spokesperson said.

“We have a track record of saving some of the most important parts of out built heritage over the last 20 around the country, from Fort Dunlop in Birmingham, to Royal William Yard in Plymouth to Park Hill in Sheffield to the former Affleck and Brown Department Store in Manchester.”

Meanwhile, a plan by Urban Splash to operate a 72-place nursery in the ground floor of its neighbouring Chips building has also been recommended for approval.