THING OF THE WEEK
TIKTOK… Made by Mitchell has signed a five-year lease on just shy of 2,000 sq ft within Urban Splash’s Giant’s Basin office in Manchester. The beauty brand is headed up by make-up artist and former X Factor contestant Mitchell Halliday and has almost 1m followers on social media platform TikTok. The company’s arrival at Giant’s Basin is perhaps the most 2024 letting of the year to date.
Urban Splash’s head of commercial property Emma Gardiner, said: “This deal was exceptional – not only completed in just four days but also drawing eager TikTok fans requesting selfies with Mitchell during our viewings.”
The pub has undergone a £1m makeover. Credit: via Scoop
ESCAPISM… The former Footage pub on Oxford Road has relaunched as The Grosvenor after a £1m refurbishment. Bought by Blind Tiger Inns for £1 last year, the site has been fully overhauled and now provides “the ultimate adult escapism experience”, according to those in charge of marketing it. A bar that provides a quiet place to scroll mindlessly on your phone in a dark room to forget the travails of life sounds great, but the Grosvenor has opted for a different approach, which includes a slide.
No parking. Credit: Jimmy Ofisia via Unsplash
CREWE YOU… What good is a car park you can’t use? That is what visitors to Crewe have been asking when they rock up to the town’s recently completed multistorey car park on a Sunday to find it closed. Cheshire East Council has been under fire this week after admitting it could not afford to open its 390-space car park for half of the weekend. Cllr Mark Goldsmith, chair of Cheshire East Council’s highways and transport committee, told local news that “given the financial position the council is in at the moment, it would not be sensible” to operate the car park on Sundays. It is a tough time for people looking for a place to park in Crewe – not only is the multistorey shuttered on Sundays, but Cheshire East is planning to introduce parking charges at its other council-owned lots.
Credit: via planning documents
GREY AREAS… Plans for what the applicant described as an “exemplar, zero carbon detached dwelling” in Cheshire East’s Green Belt have been dismissed at appeal for a second time. The Grand Designs-style abode would have seen a former council depot redeveloped into a four-bedroom dwelling with a cinema room, library, and outdoor kitchen. However, the Planning Inspectorate sided with the local council, which rejected the application in 2023. In summarising the case, the inspector said that the scheme did not meet the exceptional circumstantial threshold required to justify development in the Green Belt.
The applicant, architect David Bates, might be lamenting the timing of the appeal. Having been previously developed, the site in question could easily be considered Grey Belt and therefore suitable for development under Labour’s emerging plans to boost housing delivery. Alas, the introduction of the Grey Belt policy is yet to be enshrined in policy.
Hilson Moran’s Hackathon winners included Hilson Moran’s Jerry Rees, Anstey Horne’s Simon Hill, Eden’s Alice Huxley, and Civic Engineers’ Leah Stuart. Not pictured: Shedkm’s James Bower. Credit: via Hilson Moran
GREY IDEAS… Continuing the Grey Belt thought train, Hilson Moran’s annual Hackathon on Thursday threw viability concerns to the wind to unlock creative juices and brainstorm potential ways to transform Greater Manchester’s Grey Belt. Teams of property hackers – made up of planners, engineers, and architects – competed against each other to craft solutions to the Grey Belt problem that delivered affordable homes, improved green space, and bolstered public services. Their mission was to impress a trio of judges: Reform Landscape’s Jonathan Miley, Muse’s Max King, and Deloitte’s Ed Britton.
The winning idea? A ‘blue field’ development that was built around and on top of the Audenshaw Reservoirs near Denton. Funded by water companies (who are, as we all know, always willing to part with cash), this new community would not only contain the required homes but also new connections across the reservoirs, bluefield energy storage, and water turbines. We were especially fans of the inclusion of a Greggs – the key to any successful neighbourhood. Kudos to the hackathon champions: Hilson Moran’s Jerry Rees, Eden Planning’s Alice Huxley, Civic Engineers’ Leah Stuart, Shedkm’s James Bower, and Anstey Horne’s Simon Hill.
We hear rumours that the Hackathon might return in 2025 – as fans of wild and wacky ideas, Place is keen to see what the property market cooks up next time!
