Town hall chiefs give support to £150m regeneration plan
Kampus scheme, which will create new urban ‘district’, is formally ‘adopted’ by council
AMBITIOUS £150m plans to create a new urban ‘district’ in a forgotten area of Manchester city centre have been backed by council bosses.
The Kampus scheme, centred around Little David Street and Aytoun Street near Piccadilly, would include 500 apartments, hotels and leisure space, as well as artisan bars and independent restaurants.
Joint venture partners Capital & Centric and Henry Boot Developments submitted a Strategic Regeneration Framework in March.
Now the plans, which include the reopening of Little David Street, have passed the first hurdle after they were formally ‘adopted’ by the council.
The process is similar to outline planning permission and an application for full planning permission is set to be lodged by the end of the year, the M.E.N. can reveal.
The site, previously known as the Aytoun Street Campus, was home to Manchester Metropolitan University’s business school until 2012 when it relocated to the £75m All Saints Campus off Oxford Road. The scheme’s partners have worked with the Manchester School of Architecture in a design competition, drawing influences for the 2.3-acre site from its students.
Adam Higgins, a director at Capital & Centric, said: “It was fantastic working with the students at such an early stage in the design, they helped mould our plans for the development and we were taken aback by both their creativity and design flare.
“We’re delighted to have the framework adopted and think it’s great that the university has been involved in the changing landscape of their legacy site.”
Adam Brady, of Henry Boot Developments, said Kampus would ‘embody a new vibe’ in Manchester. He added: “The adoption of the Strategic Regeneration Framework is excellent news in bringing forward a unique new sub-district in the best development location in Manchester.
“Kampus will embody an individual new vibe in Manchester with its electric mix of architecture and ground floor presence.”
Artist’s impressions of what the new district would look like have been revealed.
Little David Street, closed for decades, is thought to be one of the only untouched and original cobbled streets in Manchester, and also benefits from Grade II-listed buildings Minshull Mill and Minto & Turner on either side.
‘Kampus will embody an individual new vibe in Manchester’