Ten years ago there were four residential schemes in the city centre: council flats at Smithfield, housing association units at Cromford Court on the top of the Arndale Centre, Wimpey’s St John’s Gardens scheme and BP Construction’s conversion of Granby House, making a total of 363 housing units.
By the middle of 1998 there were 40 housing developments with 2,100 units excluding student accommodation. A further 550 units were under construction with over 400 more planned. Most schemes so far have been around the edges of the City Centre – the majority are still in a curve round the southern edge from Whitworth Street and The Village through to Castlefield.
More recently, development of the Smithfields Building by Urban Splash and a number of small schemes by Hodari have given the Northern Quarter considerable impetus, set to continue with proposals by Crosby Homes and Riverside Housing Association for the former Smithfield Market site and Town Centre Securities’ plans for Piccadilly Basin. Even the central financial area is no longer out of bounds with Shenton Estates’ plans for 16 apartments on Clarence Street.
The City Centre is now home to an estimated 6,500 people, including students, and could rise as high as 10,000 within a decade if the demand continues. So far it shows no sign of dissipating with potential buyers queuing to snap up new flats as soon as they are released.
Baltic’s £10 million conversion of the Grand Hotel on Aytoun Street saw home hunters waiting outside for two days with half of the 110 apartments sold on the first day of release. Urban Splash’s conversion of the 11,000 sq m Britannia Mills on Ellesmere Street in Castlefield attracted another queue, selling 23 of the 33 released in the first phase on the first day. The demand was mirrored when they released phases at their successful Smithfield Buildings scheme in the Northern Quarter.
Over half the completed units and some 62 per cent of those under construction are conversions of existing buildings, taking up over 100,000 sq m of former commercial space in warehouses and offices. It has proved an effective use for secondary commercial buildings, many of which have proved hard to let. Property analysts say there is no reason to fear the explosion will stop.
According to John Adams, partner with surveyor and planning consultant Drivers Jonas, residential development in the City Centre is entirely market driven. “In other parts of the country councils had to push quite hard to get housing started,” he says, “but not in Manchester. And I don’t think we are anywhere near the threshold yet for housing in the city centre”.
Rob Robinson, head of residential land at GVA Grimley also predicts that the scene will continue to grow. He believes that as the supply of completely vacant property begins to dry up, developers will start to acquire buildings with existing tenants.
With capital values of pre-war and 1960s offices in parts of the city centre based on rents down to £54 per sq m, residential schemes at nearly £2,000 per sq m are clearly an attractive option