The city’s planning committee returned a ‘minded to refuse’ decision on the practice’s application for 85 Rochdale Road, close to the NOMA district.
This means the scheme, already deferred once in September to allow a site visit to take place, is set to return to committee a third time following consultation between planning officers and the client team.
Forming the second phase of local developer McGoff Group’s Downtown Victoria North project, 85 Rochdale Road would see 153 flats delivered above 160m² of ground-floor amenity space.
It would be integrated with the first residential stage through a shared garden and other facilities.
But more than 90 objections were received to the latest proposals, while The Victorian Society said it was ‘‘seriously concerned’ about the impact of the scheme on the Grade II-listed Marble Arch pub.
Planning officers nonetheless recommended approval. ‘The impact on the listed building amounts to a medium level of harm which is outweighed by the public benefits that the scheme would deliver in terms of removing this low-quality vacant site and providing new homes,’ they said.
According to reports, Liberal Democrat councillor Richard Kilpatrick told the meeting on Thursday (22 October): ‘It is frustrating that yet again we have a site here that is impacting a community asset, which all pubs in this city are but particularly our historic ones and, in return, it can’t even provide onsite affordable – not even social housing, just affordable housing in an area that’s desperate for it.’
The proposed tower would be built on a surface car park and include demolition of vacant buildings.
McGoff Group earlier this year revealed a subsidised loan for the scheme from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which the developer said ‘highlights their support of our plans’.
Downtown Victoria North sits within the £4 billion Victoria North regeneration project, which made the list of the government-backed new towns, revealed earlier this year.
Hawkins\Brown and Maccreanor Lavington are among the architects working on this huge conurbation being jointly developed and funded by Far East Consortium and Manchester City Council.
The proposed Rochdale Road tower features red precast concrete arranged in a grid pattern with grey concrete columns fronting the lobby at ground level.
This design underwent significant changes following feedback from residents and businesses, with updated plans increasing the distance of the building from the Marble Arch pub and adding a green space in between the two buildings.
Initial design (left) of the Rochdale tower before consultation, after which the current design (right) was adopted, credit Jon Matthews
Source: Jon Matthews
Earlier this summer McGoff said the scheme aligned with Manchester’s net zero carbon emission standards, incorporating air-source heat pumps, mechanical ventilation and rooftop solar panels. The developer claimed this would result in a 71 per cent reduction in carbon emissions compared with 2021 energy standards.
Jon Matthews told the AJ in August: ‘The design of 85 Rochdale Road responds to its complex urban setting and evolving context. Shaped through extensive consultation with local residents and businesses, the building steps back from the Marble Arch pub to create an intimate green space.
‘Its precast elevations continue our exploration of geometric concrete façades, using depth, texture and colour to engage positively with light and the surrounding environment. A unitised façade system was essential, addressing the constraints of the tight site.’
McGoff added that the overall Downtown Victoria North project responded to the council’s regeneration project in the area and the demand for new housing, adding that ‘jobs will be created, and the development will inevitably boost the local economy’.
The first phase of Downtown Victoria North is now being delivered by AEW Architects and is due to be completed this summer. It features 237 new homes, housed across one 13-storey and one 11-storey tower block.
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