Phase one of Downing’s £400m Square Gardens co-living project complete
The official opening of the 25-storey Acer Tower signified phase one’s completion.
The Acer Tower is north of the Mancunian Way and sits off Wilmott Street.
The co-living development has 1,187 beds across 716 apartments. It is part of Downing’s wider £400m Square Gardens masterplan, which also includes a 45-storey tower known as the Fernley.
Combined, the SimpsonHaugh-designed development is expected to deliver more than 1,700 homes to the First Street neighbourhood of Manchester’s city centre.
At Acer Tower, air source heat pumps have been installed to provide hot water, while the building has been given BREEAM Excellent rating as well as an EPC energy rating A.
Construction on the project began in January 2022.
The development, construction, and ongoing management are all being delivered by Downing.
Prospective renters at Acer Tower will be given a choice of three- to five-bedroom co-living apartments, studios, and one-bedroom flats.
Utilities will be covered for all residents and rent ranges from £225 per week to £500 per week.
Downing is expecting more than 1,000 residents to move in over the first few months.
The Fernley, the project’s 585-flat second phase, will open in spring 2025.
Once Square Gardens is complete, amenities for its residents will include a 24/7 onsite management team, a gym, and the “largest outdoor private gardens and terraces in the city centre”, according to a press release.
The outdoor area will reach 107,000 sq ft.
Across Square Gardens, 13,000 sq ft of space will be dedicated to health and well-being provisions.
Bay Downing, investment director at Downing, said: “This new development encompasses these needs with the offering of co-living spaces, individual studios or apartments, with the additional option of community-centred activities and amenities.
“We firmly believe that Square Gardens will fill a major gap in the rental market within the city centre, ensuring residents have a breadth of choice while, crucially, being able to tailor options to their lifestyles.”
AJP is the civil and structural engineer. Abacus is providing mechanical and electrical engineering services, while OPEN is the landscape architect.
Others on the project team include: Focchi, MPB, HE Simm, Cadgrange, AEC Acoustics and Design Fire Consultants.
Apartments at Acer Tower have been fitted out by Welcome, OEP, and Off Site Solutions.
To view the application, use the reference number 125573/FO/2019 in Manchester City Council’s planning portal.
Co-living is on the rise in Greater Manchester, with Salford City Council approving Progressive Living’s 568-studio Enclave Salford in early September.
Can only hope the neighbouring plots go some way to detracting from the sight of this on the skyline – whilst the tower is somewhat forgivable the banality of these midrise blocks is nothing put a shiny glazed blot on the skyline (with views from afar being akin to playing on a retro racing game with the complete lack of features to all elevations).
By Anonymous
I do like this but in future I hope developers start using architects other than Simpson-Haugh. I think we’ve all seen what S-H are capable of now, there’s no need for more checkerboard or featureless facades. Let’s give some other architects a chance to design the skyline – who knows we may even end up with something…. different?
By Anonymous
A pity Downing, a Liverpool based company, don’t seem to want to build in their own city much nowadays. They’ve done some big stuff in London around Vauxhall way, and now this project in Manchester, but seem not to have anything on the drawing board for Liverpool.
By Anonymous
Based on this and the debacle across the way, I think you should be glad they haven’t built in Liverpool, there’s a reason most people think that Liverpool is nicer
By Anonymous
Anon 4.13pm, Manchester still has plenty of nice bits but it also has lots of jobs and investors falling over themselves to spend money there. Yes we have nice stuff in Liverpool but we have acres of grot that have been like that for decades.
By Anonymous
@anon… who in their right mind objectively thinks Liverpool is nicer?
By Tom
It looks really ugly.
By Christopher
@tom most people with eyes
By PrestonBrummie
Is co-living now the developers method to provide affordable housing?
By Levelling Up Manager
So £225 per week… £900 per month… to live in a flat with at least 4 other people? ABSOLUTE MESS! Can’t figure out if the people who approved this are sick or the people who agree to pay that.
By Matt