St Michael’s development edges forward

A series of design refinements to the £200m St Michael’s mixed-use tower scheme have been submitted to Manchester City Council.

Developer, The St Michael’s Partnership, has proposed minor changes to the interior of the 40-storey tower, many of which involve salvaging space from within the building to incorporate engineering systems. An example of this will be seen on the ground floor of the hotel proposed as one element of the scheme, which was previously two-storeys and will now be reduced in height to accommodate a plant room.

It had been hoped that the tower would be naturally ventilated, but it is understood an additional comfort cooling system will be required.

A hotel swimming pool that featured in the original plans has also been scrapped, while other minor changes are being brought about to meet the requirements of hotel operators.

The St Michael’s Partnership confirmed Laing O’Rourke as lead contractor on the scheme, as reported by Place North West last March.

The scheme is located off Jackson’s Row and Southhill Street near the town hall in Manchester city centre, and will be a mixed-use development with a 191-bedroom five-star hotel.

In addition, the tower will provide a residential offer of 181 high-end apartments and 163,000 sq ft of office space.

An outdoor rooftop terrace will make up part of proposed 22,700 sq ft of leisure space while a smaller, boutique hotel would be housed inside the former Bootle Street police station adjacent to the main scheme.

The plans were initially approved in August 2017. Following Laing O’Rourke’s appointment, work is expected to start on site in summer 2020.

Footballer Gary Neville, who has a stake in The St Michael’s Partnership, said: “The level of input given by [Laing O’Rourke] and the team really puts us in a good position to progress swiftly with the final stage of design early in 2020.”

The professional team includes Zerum as planner, Hoare Lea as building services engineer and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as delivery architect and structural engineer.

Hodder + Partners which designed the original scheme approved in 2017, has retained a role as guardian architect. Chairman Stephen Hodder said: “I’m pleased that the design development supports the original consented scheme.

“It was so important to us that during this stage the team maintained the quality, scale and volume of the consented plans, which we have successfully achieved.”

Céire O’Rourke, Laing O’Rourke director, said: “We will be using modern methods of construction with a high percentage of the development being manufactured off site and assembled on site. These methods, known as Design for Manufacture and Assembly, minimise disruption, vital in such a tightly constrained site and give the client more certainty in terms of the programme timetable.”