Bulldozers move in on proposed NQ flats site
THE site where billionaire Fred Done is proposing to build an ‘iconic’ new development in the Northern Quarter is being demolished.
The Salford businessman’s company Salboy recently put forward proposals for two new blocks of flats.
One is at the same site on Shudehill where planners previously rejected plans for a huge hotel.
At a public consultation on Tuesday night, Salboy said that only hours earlier council officials had deemed the remaining buildings running along Soap Street and Back Turner Street ‘unsafe’ and that they must be pulled down.
Demolition appears to have been organised within a short time of the officer’s decision – leaving even local councillors for the ward saying they were unaware.
Coun Sam Wheeler told the M.E.N: “I found out on Tuesday night through Twitter.
“It can’t be that decisions on the future shape of Manchester are made by council officers without consulting democratically elected representatives – that’s not how we want to be running Manchester.”
David Redford-Crowe, who has lived in the Northern Quarter for 20 years, tweeted: “So much for ‘a public consultation.’ Told tonight (Tuesday) that the existing building on the Shudehill site is so dangerous that it is going to be demolished tomorrow.
“How convenient for the developer and the planning department of the council. Scandalous.”
Coun Pat Karney, lead for the city centre, insisted that the decision to demolish the Shudehill site does not have any bearing on whether a fresh planning application will be successful. He said: “Professional officers of the council have made this decision on the grounds of health and safety.
“These are very serious decisions and they are not taken lightly. “The building is in a terrible state. It’s been empty 20 years. “But this will have no bearing on the planning application when it comes in. People will still be able to make up their minds on that.”
In a statement, Salboy said the warehouse building on Back Turner Street had suffered an ‘internal collapse.’ A spokesperson said: “We have been closely monitoring the condition of the warehouse building at 5 Back Turner Street. A full internal inspection has been challenging as it has been deemed unsafe to access the building internally, largely due to the condition of the floors and large areas of floor collapse.
“During their most recent visit to the site, our specialist surveyors were able to use cameras and other specialist equipment to investigate previously inaccessible areas of the building.
“This revealed that the internal collapse had escalated and raised very serious concerns about the structural stability of the building. We have acted on this information immediately and have been in close contact with building control at Manchester council.
“The decision has been taken that full demolition of the building is the only feasible option to secure the safety of the site and the surrounding area, and as such, we have made arrangements for the safe demolition of the building.”
The demolition is expected to take place today. In a pre-planning proposal published last week, Salboy unveiled plans for a ‘high-quality residential development’ of around 50 ‘high specification residential units, including one, two and three-bed apartments, plus town houses, duplex and unique penthouses’ on the Shudehill site.
There would also be a smaller area of ground floor commercial space.
Bosses added that they believe the new plans, courtesy of architects 5plus, are ‘more sympathetic to surrounding buildings.’
Salboy has also proposed a much larger housing development on nearby Tariff Street. Planning applications for both proposals have yet to be submitted.