Tweaked Granada Studios to progress

Allied London has been granted approval to push ahead with revised plans to redevelop the former Granada Studios, reducing the number of hotel rooms from 210 to 175 and increasing the amount of office space.

In 2018, Manchester City Council awarded consent to Allied to convert the studio on Atherton Street – which is part of the firm’s Enterprise City scheme – into a 210-bedroom hotel to be operated by Mollies Motel & Diner.

The developer also proposed 22 apartments and 26,000 sq ft of office space in an adjoining 10-storey block on the site of the recently demolished annex.

However, Allied London said it wanted to build more office space within the scheme after the success of its nearby ABC Buildings scheme and in response to demand for midsize floorplates within Enterprise City. So it scrapped the residential part of the project in favour of more office space, as reported by Place North West last year.

The rooftop pool proposed to complement the residential portion of the development is no longer part of the plans.

Bowmer + Kirkland is on site as the main contractor

Allied submitted an application to Manchester City Council for the revised Granada Studios scheme in July.

The development is split into zones:

– Zone One – 75,000 sq ft of studio and event space formerly used by Granada as television studios 

– Zone Two – 14,000 sq ft of modular office space along the west edge of the former studios

– Zone Four and Five – a 100,000 sq ft hotel in the former Granada TV office building, plus a bar and restaurant in the three-storey adjoining structure fronting Quay Street. Both operated by Mollies Motel & Diner

– Zone Six – nine-storey office building providing 64,000 sq ft with 8,000 sq ft retail on the ground floor and basement.

Construction firm Bowmer + Kirkland is on site as the main contractor, 3DReid is the architect, having replaced Levitt Bernstein, and Deloitte Real Estate is the planning consultant.

Gardiner & Theobald is the project manager and cost consultant. Curtins is the structural engineer, Crookes Walker is the M&E consultant and Dalbergia is the employer’s agent.