Scarborough starts on £30m Ancoats block

SCARBOROUGH Group has started work on a 144-apartment block in Manchester’s Ancoats, the second phase of Milliners Wharf.

It follows a funding deal it secured in July with listed Hong Kong developer Top Spring International Holdings, and Metro Holdings, a Singapore-listed property development and investment group.

They are taking 25% each in a new company called FairBriar Properties that will develop the apartment block and the 23-acre Middlewood Locks scheme in Salford, which has space for 2,000 apartments and other uses.

Yorkshire-based Scarborough originally bought the site from Santander in 2009 a year after the bank took control when developer City Lofts went into administration. It has called the new block the Hat Box and says it will have a development value of £30m.

Nicola Wallis, sales and marketing director at Scarborough, said: “The Hat Box will provide 144 fantastic new homes in the popular residential area of New Islington. Each of the apartments will have a high specification and have been designed to maximise light and space. We are delighted to have started on site and we are looking forward to launching the apartments for sale next year.”