New images have been released of Gary Neville’s revamped St Michael’s skyscrapers – which has been fully endorsed by heritage bosses. The revamped proposal ‘enhances the surrounding conservation area’ but is still likely to have a ‘moderate to major’ impact on views from Albert Square accordingly to Historic England.

The huge development of Jackson’s Row has now been submitted for a second time with radical changes after the feedback received when it was first submitted at the start of the year. But bosses are now a lot more positive about the design and feel confident that key objections from both the public and Historic England have been addressed. This includes major demolition planned being scrapped, one of the proposed towers being removed from the design, and the second tower being redesigned in keeping with the feedback received.

We’ll be heading to North West for the Manchester Development Plans Conference on the 23rd January and we’re excited to have Catherine Dewar, Planning Director at Historic England, joining us at the conference. We’ll also be hearing from Joanne Roney, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, who are also working in partnership with Gary Neville to develop Jackson’s Row and Bootle Street. You can still book tickets here.

The project is likely to be discussed at the conference which, with Historic England’s backing, is now more likely to be approved in 2018. Speaking about submitting the application Gary Neville said: ”I was confident last time, but I didn’t know what was about to hit us. It was an unprecedented amount of objection and an incredible of noise. I would never say I have confidence, I’d say more confident than last time obviously because we have got a better consultation response – not just from Historic England but importantly the public response has been far more positive.” He added that the next steps would be to submit the plans over Christmas – and if it received planning approval in the new year then the application would go before the committee in the spring of 2018.

The project will bring together a variety of space including:

  • Luxury apartments – expected to be amongst the most expensive in the city
  • A five star luxury hotel
  • Office and work space
  • Shops, bars and restaurants
  • A public garden
  • A synagogue

The new development plans are much more incorporated into the Manchester city surroundings and heritage, after initial feedback at the beginning of the year suggesting the first plan would ‘dominate’ the skyline and ‘dwarf the nationally important civic buildings’.

We look forward to hearing from both Catherine Dewar; Historic England and Joanne Roney; Manchester City Council at the Manchester Development Plans Conference on the 23rd January. Join us there > Manchester Development Plans Conference.