£400m Scheme Gets Green Light

Plans for a new £400 million city centre regeneration scheme that will see more than 1,200 homes being built have been approved by Manchester City Council.MCR Property Group’s Gasworks New Town project will create 1,202 houses on the site of the former Rochdale Road Gas Works in the heart of Manchester, featuring a mixture of townhouses as well as apartments.The 6.6-acre site, which has been home to a car park for a number of years, will now see a residential scheme, with the first residents expected to move in by the end of 2023.The project will improve the supply of housing, with this flagship development creating a new centre of gravity for Manchester which will also see thousands of jobs created, injecting tens of millions of pounds into the city’s economy.MCR purchased the site in 2015 with plans to use it as a launchpad to rejuvenate the area with a mixed-use destination development. The team, working in partnership with local stakeholders and planning departments, went through dozens of iterations to ensure the balance of housing provision, design and environmental amenities was just right. It received approval from Manchester City Council’s Planning Committee on 3 June.Accommodation will be provided by nine separate buildings ranging from 8 to 34 storeys. The scheme will be built in four phases with construction due to begin in the next few weeks, with the tallest residential tower expected to be completed by 2030.Architects AHR included 1,224 cycle spaces as part of a determined effort to encourage more people to walk and cycle, and help reduce the amount of traffic on local roads. Where there is underground parking, bays will have electric charging points for the next generation of environmentally friendly vehicles.Plans include a public park between Gould Street and Bromley Street as well as a pedestrian route and cycle path running east to west through the site. This is the most carbon-efficient development of its kind that Manchester has ever seen and will save 300 tonnes of carbon a year, exceeding the council’s target for new developments by 30%.The Gasworks New Town neighbourhood is one of seven envisioned by the £4 billion Victoria North masterplan, formerly known as the Northern Gateway Strategic Regeneration Framework. This masterplan will see the entire area north of the city centre transformed over the next 20 years by the delivery of 15,000 new homes across 383 acres.A total of 85 affordable homes will be available through Shared Ownership – among the most provided by any city centre redevelopment site. This number may increase during the fourth phase of the scheme.