PJ Livesey secures MMU’s Didsbury campus
THE developer PJ Livesey has won the competition to acquire one of Manchester Metropolitan University’s most prized property assets.
Subject to planning consent, it will take control of the 17-acre Didsbury campus on the edge of the upmarket south Manchester suburb.
The city council has already drawn up draft plans for the campus and believes it has the potential for executive homes and a new primary school.
The site has one Grade II* listed property and a number of Grade II listed buildings, as well as playing fields which are protected from development by restrictive covenants.
It is being sold because MMU is consolidating its operations from seven campuses to two – around Oxford Road and at the new Birley Fields site in Hulme. DTZ is handling the disposal of all the surplus sites and has so far sold Aytoun Street in Manchester centre to a joint venture of Henry Boot and Manchester developer Capital & Centre, and Elizabeth Gaskell in Victoria Park to Nuffield Health which is planning a new private hospital. It is still looking for buyers for the Hollins campus in Fallowfield and much of the university’s site at Alsager, Cheshire.
PJ Livesey, which is based in Trafford Park, said it would in partnership with MMU to bring forward a planning application that will include housing, the refurbishment of listed buildings, a primary school on the site of Broomhurst hall of residence, and the transfer of Simons playing fields to the local community.
Director James Woodmansee said: “This is a unique opportunity to create an exemplar development that will form a natural extension to Didsbury Village providing unrivalled new homes of a scale that can really make a difference to the provision and profile of housing within the city.
“It is an opportunity not to be squandered. We have a responsibility to deliver on these aspirations without compromise. A diluted version simply will not produce the legacy and standard which should be demanded by all those involved.
“The historic assets of the site are not constraints they are opportunities and we will be working with Calderpeel Architects, Ryder Landscape Consultants and HOW planning to create the very highest quality bespoke homes with a variety of styles, designs and sizes to nestle within the mature landscape.”
John Cunningham, director of finance at MMU said: “We received a lot of interest in the site as you would expect given the location and the opportunity presented by the listed buildings and the parkland setting of the main campus.
“A number of proposals were of a very high quality but the PJ Livesey proposal really stood out. The university looks forward to working with the company to create a unique development and lasting legacy not only for the people of Didsbury but for the region.”
PJ Livesey Group was advised by Anne Irwin of Slater Heelis Cottrills.
