Planning update: Beswick, King Street, Manchester Business School
THREE major developments were rubber stamped by Manchester City Council’s planning committee last week.
Councillors approved the authority’s own application for a £40m revamp of community facilities next to Manchester City FC’s planned Etihad Campus.
It is proposing a new leisure centre with a swimming pool, a 600-place sixth form college, a sports research institute and retail units at the 16-acre site next to City’s new academy.
An earlier council report said the scheme will cost £40m, not including land acquisitions. Of this, the sixth form college will cost £10.2m; the leisure centre £8.7m; and the sports research institute £13.9m.
The council is hoping to pool cash from a variety of sources, including the Department of Education which may commit £9.8m to the college, and Manchester City which is contributing £9.7m to the sports institute and £3m to the leisure centre.
::
COMMERCIAL Development Projects won planning approval for a hotel above Jamie Oliver’s restaurant in Manchester.
The business, a division of Elland-based construction group Marshall, wants to convert the upper floors of the grade II-listed former Midland Bank building in King Street into a five-star boutique hotel. The operator has not been named but London-based Bespoke Hotels is a likely contender.
The Sir Edwin Lutyens-designed building, which was latterly an HSBC, has been empty since 2008 apart from the restaurant which opened last year. The original plan was to turn the upper floors into office space.
The centrepiece of the hotel will be a two-storey restaurant on the first and second floors. There will also be bars on the seventh and eighth floors which will make use of the building’s outdoor balconies.
John Cooper, director at planning adviser Deloitte Real Estate, said: “These plans provide the chance to really open up this fantastic building to the public. It’s great news for the area and a boutique hotel will perfectly complement the surrounding shops and restaurants. King Street has had a mixed fortune over the past couple of years and this development will give the area the boost it needs.
::
COUNCILLORS approved a four-star, 234-bed hotel at Manchester Business School.
The plan, which is part of a £60m project to upgrade the site on Oxford Road, involves the 19-storey hotel being operated by InterContinental Hotels Group under its Crowne Plaza and Staybridge Suites brands.
The Crowne Plaza would occupy the fourth to 13th floors, while Staybridge Suites – which offers long stay accommodation – will be on the 14th to 19th floors. The business school currently has accommodation with 101 rooms.
An “executive education building” will occupy the lower floors with a direct link to the hotel which will be built on land which is currently being used as a car park. The hotel is part of a wider scheme that will see a complete overhaul of the university’s precinct building.
The development is being led by Manchester property group Bruntwood which said in its annual accounts, filed in February, that it was close to signing contracts with an investor that would help it take the project forward.
