Plans submitted for start of £1.35bn St John’s scheme

PROPERTY developer Allied London has submitted two planning applications as part of the first phase of the £1.35bn development of St John’s area of Manchester.

The two applications submitted are for the Manchester Grande Hotel and the Bonded Warehouse.

St John’s will be situated between the thriving Spinningfields area and the Museum of Science and Industry, in the heart of the city centre and promises to be the new neighbourhood of enterprise, culture and living.

The Manchester Grande will redevelop the former Granada Television headquarters and TV studios into a hotel and an events and performance space, while the Bonded Warehouse will redevelop the 1860s warehouse into a mixed-use workspace, retail and leisure destination.

The Manchester Grande will comprise circa 150 bedrooms, dedicated restaurants and bars and a rooftop bar on the 9th floor. Three permanent, self-contained venues in the former TV studios will have a combined capacity of up to 1550 people, and an informal performance space will have the capacity to host other music and cultural events in a more open environment.

The arcade walkway will provide a public realm space for when the venues are in use and can be used independently as a space for food fairs, pop up events and art installations.

Adjacent to the hotel will sit a new workspace building, which will provide a contemporary flexible workspace for local business, and is part of a growing commitment that Allied London has towards creating and providing interesting and stimulating working environments.

The building will provide arange of space options allowing it to be either sole occupied or multi-tenanted.

An open air swimming pool bar and restaurant will be located on the top floor of the hotel and workspace buildings. This will be the first of its kind in the UK and has already attracted interest from international brands.

Allied London intends to retain ownership and join up with one such brand for the operation of this asset. The total size of the asset for this project is circa 220,000 sq ft.

The second application, The Bonded Warehouse, is for the conversion of a historic former industrial warehouse into a multi-use office, retail, restaurant and bar space.

The warehouse dates back to the 1860s and was historically used as a storage area for goods and, from1982, by Granada Television as television studios, rehearsal and office space.
 
Whilst fully maintaining the character of the old building, the new facility will become the anchor for a new commercial enterprise village and public realm space.

The building, which is a total of 125,000 sq ft, has been deliberately designed for the creative and enterprise industries. The Bonded Warehouse will become recognised as the place within Manchester for enterprise, creativity, innovative working and leisure, and will provide infrastructure for those industries to flourish and grow.

Hello Work, an Allied London subsidiary, already promotes shared workspace within the Old Granada Studios building.

On a mission to reshape the modern workplace hello work builds creative working environments for start-ups and provides on-site support to help businesses grow.

 The intention for Allied London is that this already thriving cluster will move in to The Bonded Warehouse and will grow to a multiple of 100 times, supporting small businesses across Manchester and beyond.

Chief executive of Allied London Michael Ingall said: “We are in the early stages of enterprise and creative industries in Manchester and St John’s is going to be crucial in creating an environment that supports small businesses, creative enterprises, innovators and entrepreneurs as well as providing a buzzing place for families to live and work.

“The Bonded Warehouse and The Grande Hotel will be joined up with a new Village on the site of the former timber yards, known at this stage as Village One.

A detailed planning application for Village One will be submitted in July, together with the remaining components of the St John’s development comprising The Riverside, The Towers, St John’s Place, Vertical Village, The Factory and The Goods Yard.”