Nobu Manchester: City’s new tallest tower with luxury hotel and homes back on track after music venue row

Developer Salboy sought the green light for its 246m-tall ‘Nobu Manchester’ tower last month, with the skyscraper taking its name from the luxury hotel it will house along with 452 apartments.

It was set to become Manchester’s tallest tower when it secured planning permission on April 10, overtaking Renaker’s Plot D tower, which will be 213m tall when construction finishes.

But ‘changes to access’ to the buildings made during the planning process meant a ‘perhaps overcautious’ Manchester council decided to ‘reconsult’ neighbours, according to Dave Roscoe, a senior figure in the council’s planning department.

That meant the application was re-assessed in full on Thursday (May 29). After opening for consultation again, the Music Venue Trust said ‘further acoustic testing should be undertaken’ on nearby music venue Rebellion, which feared complaints from new residents.

“It is a long-established Mancunian cultural space, being a home for live music since 2013 and hosting in excess of 220 events annually,” a council report prepared before the meeting said of the Trust’s objection.

Mr Roscoe said at Thursday’s town hall meeting both Rebellion and convention centre Manchester Central — which initially opposed the development — would undergo more acoustic testing to assess the effects of noise from the venues would have on Nobu Manchester.

Councillors again voted to approve the development.

A similar situation unfolded with another apartment block nearby, set to be built on Whitworth Street West.

The £118M, 44-storey tower is also near Rebellion, and the Music Venue Trust said its ‘operators must be actively included, and venue operations appropriately surveyed’ the same report added.

“Without consideration of the venue this proposal would have an adverse impact on the cultural organisation’s ongoing viability and would result in homes with unacceptable amenity and quality,” it went on.

Applications to keep restaurant, performance venue, and bar Diecast open permanently on Store Street, and a new SEND pupils’ unit as William Hulme’s Grammar School in Whalley Range were also approved.

Simon Ismail, Salboy boss, said: “As the location of not just the tallest tower outside London but a large number of high quality affordable homes, Viadux has the potential to become a symbol of this city’s aspirations and confidence in itself. Viadux now promises to shape not only Manchester’s skyline for years to come, but the city’s sense of identity on the global stage.”