Scheme also includes new 18-storey office block
Manchester City Council has approved plans for 800 homes and a new office building on the edge of the city centre.
Developer Oval Properties 1801 Ltd intends to demolish Albert Bridge House, which was built in the 1950s, and replace it with three octagonal towers.
The 0.89ha site is located on the north-west side of the city centre on the banks of the River Irwell, opposite Salford.
At a committee hearing last Thursday, councillors expressed concern about the lack of affordable housing in the development, but ultimately a majority voted in favour of the officers’ recommendation to approve the scheme.
A 2022 application for 365,000sq ft of office space and 367 build-to-rent homes previously received approval but was re-evaluated in light of higher interest rates and construction costs, as well as changing investor appetite.
The new proposals include a tower of up to 18 storeys, which will house 29,902sq m of office space, alongside ground-floor commercial, leisure, food and drink uses.
The residential component will be divided between the other two buildings, the taller of which will rise to 45 storeys, providing 419 homes. Of these, 52 will be one-beds, 321 two-beds, and 46 three-beds.
The other tower will be 37 storeys, providing 381 homes, of which 213 are one-beds, 134 two-beds and 34 three-beds.
The site is currently occupied by four mid-century commercial buildings, the tallest of which, Albert Bridge House, is 18 storeys.
The building, which was completed in 1959, was nominated for local listing in 2019, but this was denied by Historic England. The developer explored retention of the existing building but decided this “would significantly limit the redevelopment potential of the site”.
Studio Egret West was the architect on the proposals, while the project team also includes Gardiner & Theobold as quantity surveyor, as well as AKTII, Hoare Lea and Curtins, which provided engineering and consulting services.
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