Bookie Fred’s new glass tower vision
A CONTROVERSIAL glass tower in Manchester city centre will house offices instead of apartments in the latest twist of a longrunning planning saga.
Salboy, the developer arm of billionaire bookie Fred Done, got the go ahead for the striking 17-storey building in the Northern Quarter last year.
Hundreds of people signed a petition opposing the ‘ugly’ development opposite Shudehill bus station, which will also involve the renovation of a neighbouring warehouse on Back Turner Street and Soap Street.
Salboy has now decided to take their project in a new direction by providing 45,000 sq ft of offices instead of 65 flats as previously planned.
The developer says the offices will be aimed at ‘typical Northern Quarter tenants’ and, once fully occupied, could raise almost £50m in national insurance and income tax over 15 years.
The revised plans have now been approved by Manchester council’s chief executive Joanne Roney, who has overseen planning decisions during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the council there were no planning grounds on which to refuse the application, which also promised to create 1,000 jobs – of which around 600 would become available once the scheme is completed.
But with uncertainty surrounding future demand for office space in a post-Covid world, Piccadilly ward councillors have questioned the need for such a development.
Coun Sam Wheeler said: “I’m not sure if someone has told Salboy about the current economic situation if they’re talking about 100 per cent occupancy rates. We’ve got massive office spaces at Angel Square and NOMA just five minutes away.
“I think we’re going to get an ugly 17-storey empty office block blighting an area of the city that’s meant to be a key cultural draw for us.
“Salboy have just used the original proposals to justify the second application, it’s just shameful.”
There is also a belief that Ms Roney, who was given delegated planning powers alongside planning committee chair and vice chair, Coun Basil Curley and Coun Nasrin Ali, should not have presided over the application.
A day after the decision was made, Manchester council announced that the planning committee would be reinstated in July.
Coun Jon-Connor Lyons, another Piccadilly ward member, said: “The application, because of the sheer size of it, should be in front of the committee.
“It’s only a matter of weeks to wait, so it’s disappointing that it wasn’t deferred.
“The development is something you expect in other parts of the city centre, but not this part of the Northern Quarter.”