First look at plans for former Debenhams in Manchester

First look at plans for former Debenhams building in Manchester – including shopping arcade and restaurants

This iconic Manchester city centre building which used to be the home of the Debenhams department store could be finally getting a face-lift – here’s what it might look like.

By Sofia Fedeczko

Published 5th Apr 2023, 10:58 GMT

Updated 27th Nov 2023, 09:58 GMT

Plans have been unveiled for the redevelopment of the former Debenhams store on Market Street in Manchester city centre. The building has been empty since the store’s closure in May 2021 and has slowly been falling into disrepair, with a councillor last year labelling the condition of the iconic site “an unholy mess”.

Under the new plans the Grade II-listed former textile warehouse, formally known as the Rylands building, will get a four-storey extension, meaning the building will have a total of 10 floors. The ground floors will include a shopping arcade with leisure space, mainly for restaurants, and there will be office spaces above it.

Work is set to start this year and is scheduled to be completed by 2025. The developers behind the modernisation project, global real-estate firm AM Alpha, say that, on completion, the building will have Net Zero Carbon status.

Here are the CGI images for what the historic building will look like inside and outside once the transformation is finished.