Developer agrees £114m for affordable housing, but may not have to pay any of it
Proposals to deliver nearly 2,400 homes across five towers in central Manchester look likely to proceed after their developer struck an agreement over affordable housing with the council.
At a planning committee last August, city councillors said they were minded to approve two separate applications brought forward by Renaker, subject to “a legal agreement for a review mechanism for a financial contribution towards off-site affordable housing” and off-site biodiversity mitigation.
The council has now published draft section 106 agreements agreed by the developer, which includes a combined contribution of £114m to affordable housing elsewhere in the city.
However, the council agreed with Renaker that “viability issues” prevent it from being able to either provide on-site affordable or pay the agreed contribution.
A mechanism implemented in the section 106 agreement will allow the local authority to reassess the viability at various points in the development of the two schemes to see if it has improved to a degree that the payments can be made.
The agreements mean that a formal decision notice on the schemes is likely to come soon.
Both developments form part of the Great Jackson Street development area and share largely the same project teams, with SimpsonHaugh as architect, DP Squared as structural engineer, and Futureserv as building services engineer
The application titled ‘Crown Street, Phase 3’, but known as the Lighthouse, will comprise of two 47-storey towers and two 51-storey towers.
A two-storey colonnade with ground floor commercial units will surround a new public square, with the residential towers anchoring each corner.
A total of 1,746 homes will be provided across the 1.09ha site, with a mix of one-, two-, and three-bed properties, as well as 483 car parking spaces and 1,746 cycle spaces.
Its potential affordable housing contribution has been set at £81m.
The permission titled ‘Plot D’ in planning documents, but known as The Green, will see a 70-storey residential tower built over a single-storey podium, with a three-storey office to be built adjacent.
The scheme sits on a 0.47ha site, currently home to a temporary concrete batching plant.
Its potential affordable contribution has been set at £33.2m.
Development of the schemes must be begun no later than three years after the permission is given.
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