Plans for the redevelopment of Great Northern Warehouse, Deansgate Mews and Deansgate Terrace in Manchester have been confirmed to be going ahead, with work beginning next year. The former railway goods warehouse will be completely transformed to keep up with ‘the demands of the post-pandemic world’, which means scrapping the Odeon cinema which is currently housed there, and building nearly 750 flats and new office space.
The three new apartment buildings will peak at 34 storeys with ‘high quality’ office space being the ‘centrepiece’ of the project, in addition to the repurposing of the multi-storey car park into office space, leaving just over 900 parking spaces.
Luckily for the general public, Great Northern Square at the front of the building will remain public space as a ‘green oasis’, as well as new pedestrian and cycle routes being planned across the site to increase connectivity and access to the wider city centre – a further addition to Manchester City Council’s ‘Active Travel’ strategy.
Unfortunately, and a rarity in redeveloping cities, there is no affordable housing planned in the redevelopment of Great Northern Warehouse, highlighting the issues many have with developers gentrifying the city of Manchester. On this, Lib Dem councillor and MP for Withington John Leech argued that the developers should pay for affordable housing elsewhere.
Responding to the decision, founder and CEO of developers Trilogy, Robert Wolstenholme, said: “A huge team has worked tirelessly and with huge passion for over 8 years to listen, design and refine to arrive at a proposed scheme we hope Manchester will proud of.
“There is much still to do and we will continue to work hard to bring to life what has been in our imaginations for so many years. We greatly look forward to continuing to build a community of the best of the north at the Great Northern.”
Architects SimpsonHaugh describe the project as: “The sensitive refurbishment and redevelopment of the Grade II listed warehouse and Grade II listed Deansgate Terrace to create new mixed-use urban quarter for Manchester.”