Marco Living proposes Palatine Road resi
Three buildings would be demolished and replaced by 70 homes across apartments and townhouses in the south Manchester suburbs, a scheme designed by OMI Architects.
Plans for the project have now been lodged with Manchester City Council.
Prepared by OMI on behalf of Marco Living, the plans for 232-236 Palatine Road set out the developer’s intention to bring down the three existing residential buildings on the plot, which currently include 22 dwellings, and replace them with a new-build project.
This would comprise 54 one, two- and three-bedroom apartments in a single building fronting Palatine Road; and 16 five-bedroom houses, combining townhouses and semi-detached homes, either aside of a central landscaped podium atop a parking area.
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There would be 48 parking spaces for the apartment building, eight at the front and the rest in this lower ground parking area. Each house would also have a garage space in the parking level.
Ashton Hale is the planning consultant for the project, and DEP the landscape architect for Manchester developer Marco, which counts the 1NQ city centre scheme among its project roster.
Tim Claxton Property advised on viability, filing an assessment that concludes that due in part to development costs and “abnormal” flood mitigation requirements, the project cannot sustain “planning contributions in the form of affordable housing or otherwise”.
The landscaped podium to the apartment block’s rear, with townhouses on one side and semi-detached homes to the other. Credit: planning documents
Within the Didsbury West ward, the site is close to the boundary with Northenden and 200m from the River Mersey. The site sits across the road from Withington Golf Club, and is bound to the rear by scrubland associated with the adjacent Britannia hotel.
Although the proposed apartment building is a single structure, it is designed as three solid “elements” with setback areas to reduce visual impact.
Feedback received as the designs have taken shape have led to the number of apartments in the front building being reduced from 59 to 54, and the building going from six storeys to five to better fit the area’s context. A pitched roof was also removed to further reduce scale.
Towards the end of 2024, a series of discussions were held with the council, covering such areas as bio-diversity net gain and affordable homes.
The proposals can be viewed on the MCC planning portal with the reference 141813/FO/2024.
