City council buys former Shell site
MANCHESTER City Council has acquired a six-acre former Shell site in Wythenshawe that is said to be “pivotal” to regeneration in the area.
The Rowlandsway site, notable for its brutalist car park building, was a major IT base for the oil multi-national.
It has vacated the site, moving staff to a 30,000 sq ft office at Brabazon House, Concord Business Park, two years ago.
Last week a planning application to demolish and clear the area was lodged with Manchester City Council. The application area includes offices, an administrative building, a computer centre and the car park building.
According to documents filed with the application, Shell moved out because the space is “inefficient and no longer fit for modern purposes without significant alteration and investment”.
An agenda document filed ahead of a meeting of the council’s executive next week, states: “The city council has been in negotiation to acquire Shell (UK) Ltd’s interests in the vacant Rowlandsway House, the most significant land interest on the eastern side of Rowlandsway.
“These negotiations have been concluded successfully. The acquisition of this key land interest is regarded as pivotal to bringing forward a comprehensive plan for transforming this part of the Town Centre and putting a platform in place on which a development partner may be sought at some point in the future.”
The executive is preparing to endorse the Wythenshawe Town Centre and MediPark regeneration frameworks, which have both been subject to public consultation, when it meets on June 26.
