Old Boddingtons Brewery site in Manchester set to become flats and public ‘pocket park’

The former Boddingtons Brewery site could be home to 461 apartments if the latest plans for the land on the edge of Manchester city centre are approved.

Two residential buildings ranging between 11 and 27 storeys in height are planned for the site off Great Ducie Street as well as a new pocket park.

It comes as Manchester College’s new campus is under construction on the southern section of the site which was last used as a surface level car park.

Property developer Latimer, which is part of affordable housing provider Clarion, has now submitted a planning application for the housing scheme.

According to the plans, only 5% of the new homes would be affordable – but a spokesperson for the company said the developer is actually aiming for 60 pc.

A portion of the affordable homes will be secured through a Section 106 agreement with Manchester council as part of the planning process.

But the developer is hoping Homes England will help it deliver more affordable housing than the council would require as a condition for planning permission.

The rest of the properties would be sold privately, according to the application.

The proposal submitted to the council includes just eight apartments available as part of a shared ownership scheme and 15 affordable or social rent flats.

A statement by Deloitte on behalf of the developer explains that under a ‘traditional housing model’, affordable housing is not viable on this site.

However, the market ‘may improve’ when work on the development is done.

The affordable housing statement submitted as part of the proposal added: “On this basis, Latimer Developments have made an initial commitment of 5 % on-site affordable housing by unit which relates to 23 homes.

“Latimer Developments will continue working to improve the affordable housing provision throughout the construction stages. Should the current position improve a revised Affordable Housing Statement will be resubmitted.”

What else is in the development?

The proposed development promises to ‘transform’ the brownfield site off Bury New Road while complementing the new Manchester College campus.

At the heart of the scheme will be a ‘courtyard pocket park’ which would be open to the public, creating a new green space near Manchester city centre.

Most of the apartments will have two-bedrooms with some designed for four people while 16 three-bedroom flats for up to five people are also planned.

One of the residential buildings would range between 27, 20 and 17 storeys with another 11-storey building also planned on the half-hectare plot of land.

The publicly accessible courtyard space would be nearly 1,000 square metres.

There would also be a residential ‘podium’ terrace measuring 263 square metres, five blue badge bays and a secure cycle space for each apartment.

However, there is no car parking planned for residents in the development.