Latest Manchester Build-To-Rent Scheme Revealed

While the UK construction sector has been slightly in the doldrums in the last couple of years, Manchester has defied the trend, particularly in and around the centre where mostly residential skyscrapers and other residential developments have continued to transform the skyline.

Although there are many more skyscrapers on the way for the heart of the city, there are more projects taking place elsewhere, not least to the west of the city centre either side of the Manchester Ship Canal.

On the north side, Salford Quays has been a hive of development for years, but the latest planned development is across the water in Old Trafford, a £200 million build-to-rent scheme centred around two towers of 24 and 21 storeys respectively, alongside student accommodation blocks of 13 and 16 storeys.

Developer Cole Waterhouse is behind the project and this could be just the first of several major undertakings in the vicinity, with construction equipment being brought in not just to construct these and more homes, but also a major stadium redevelopment or rebuild for Manchester United.

Indeed, the site is part of the Wharfside zone that has been earmarked for a massive redevelopment, led by the stadium project but also including up to 5,000 new homes.

Managing director of Cole Waterhouse Residential Simon Gallanders said: “This game-changing project would help to transform this well-known brownfield site into a thriving new community.”

The construction of new build-to-let homes in Manchester would amount to another way in which the city is defying the latest trends.

A recent survey by Savills for the British Property Federation (BPF) indicated that although build-to-let construction saw a 23 per cent year-on-year rise in completions in the last 12 months, the sector is set to see a major slowdown as the number of starts has fallen by 20 per cent in the last year, while planning applications fell 12 per cent in the last quarter.

BPF director of policy Ian Fletcher said that “increased regulatory and other costs that have faced the sector for the last few years is starting to take its toll on new schemes“. Among the negative factors has been the abolition of multiple dwellings relief in June.