Manchester is poised for a transformative week as city councillors prepare to green-light a colossal wave of development, including more than 1,700 new homes and a critical step for a billion-pound project.
A Landmark Planning Meeting
The city's planning committee will convene on Thursday, November 20, to debate a monumental 800-page agenda. Planning officers have recommended approval for a series of major applications that will significantly reshape several Manchester neighbourhoods.
Major Housing Developments Across the City
The most substantial proposals focus on new housing. In total, 1,732 homes across five key locations are recommended for approval.
The largest single project is a 752-apartment development planned for the site of Stockton's furniture store on Great Ancoats Street. Proposed by developers Liquid Funding Business, the scheme features two towers reaching 25 and 50 storeys high. The project promises publicly-accessible outdoor space covering 55% of the site, complementing new green areas planned for the nearby Civil Service campus.
Another significant housing scheme is earmarked for Riverpark Road in Newton Heath. On the former Riverpark Trading Estate, where the city's historic 'bullring' abattoir once stood, developer Great Places plans 498 houses and flats. Crucially, the housing association has pledged that more than four in ten of these homes will be available for social rent or shared ownership, helping to complete the Eastlands regeneration begun with the Commonwealth Games 23 years ago.
Further south, in Moss Side, housing association MSV is behind a proposal for 212 flats on the site of the legendary Reno nightclub. The plan involves constructing six blocks, including specific apartments for over-55s and townhouses, opposite the Heineken Brewery.
Transforming Chorlton and University Landmarks
South Manchester will see further change with plans to radically alter Chorlton's centre. The proposal involves demolishing the existing Chorlton Cross shopping centre to create an 'inside out' design. Developer PJ Livesey will build 262 apartments across six blocks, with 49 designated as affordable. The new layout will feature ground-floor shops facing outward towards the road, a new 'makers' yard', and green spaces, moving away from the current internal square format. Commercial spaces are earmarked for smaller, independent retailers.
Beyond housing, the committee is also set to approve controversial plans to relocate the grade-II listed Holloway Wall on the University of Manchester's recently-closed north campus. Despite objections from Historic England and the Twentieth Century Society, developers Bruntwood Sci-Tech argue the move is essential for its £1.7 billion 'Sister' project. This vast initiative aims to build hundreds of homes, office space, and research facilities between Oxford Road and Piccadilly station. The brutalist wall would be moved into a new publicly-accessible 'Manchester Room'.
Other applications on the agenda include eight houses on grassland in Wythenshawe, a Didsbury extension, and a student accommodation tower for temporary visits outside of term time. However, a bid by the British Muslim Heritage Centre in Whalley Range to retain its marquee is recommended for refusal.
The planning committee meeting can be watched online from 2pm on Thursday, November 20, marking a pivotal moment for Manchester's urban landscape.
