Latimer snaps up part of Manchester Boddingtons site
The development arm of Clarion Housing Group has acquired the Great Ducie Street plot from LTE Group and plans to build 442 homes next to The Manchester College’s £93m city centre digital and creative campus.
Located immediately north of the under-construction campus, the 1.24-acre site fronts Great Ducie Street and is currently used as a surface car park. The land – part of a wider seven-acre plot – is deemed surplus to requirements by the college’s operator LTE.
Latimer’s development would be made up of two buildings. A 20-plus-storey tower would be stepped in height and connected to a smaller building fronting Great Ducie Street at ground floor level.
The scheme would comprise 442 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, of which 60% are earmarked as affordable. The affordable units are to include homes for social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership.
The two buildings would be delivered concurrently as a single project, according to Latimer.
The project would also feature 6,000 sq ft of commercial space and work on site is expected to begin in mid 2022, subject to planning approval.
LTE bought the former Boddingtons Brewery site from Realty Estates in 2018 as part of its wider £139m estates revamp. Manchester City Council provided a £27.6m loan to fund the acquisition.
Willmott Dixon is on site delivering the digital campus, due to complete in September 2022. The second phase of the project features a campus for business and financial courses, to be constructed between phase one and Latimer’s development.
Manchester College’s new base next to the AO Arena is progressing on site
Meanwhile LTE is in the process of selling off sites within its disparate estate. So far the firm has sold sites in Moston, Northenden, and Spinningfields. Manchester College’s West Didsbury and Ardwick sites are also to be sold.
Richard Cook, group director of development for Clarion Housing Group, said: “Our scheme is part of a masterplan that will see the delivery of new high-quality homes in close proximity to all that the city has to offer, creating a thriving new neighbourhood.”
John Thornhill, chief executive of the LTE Group, said: “Our city centre campus in Manchester, combined with this new housing development, creates a fantastic opportunity not only to regenerate an area of the city but provide much-needed opportunities for residents to learn, live and contribute to the economy of the city.
“The sale to Latimer will bring a wealth of experience in providing both affordable and private housing to Manchester and will enable a new community to be placed in a prominent city centre location energising the area for all.”
The proposed development by Prosperity would have transformed the former Boddingtons site
Nearby, Prosperity UX Manchester received planning permission to build 556 homes on the site of a Dutton Street car park in February 2019, but construction never started and the company has since collapsed.
Prosperity UX’s Old Brewery Gardens proposal for the site featured two buildings between 11 and 26 storeys. There would be 580,000 sq ft of residential space, with 37,500 sq ft of commercial space.
