A major development in Manchester city centre has obtained planning permission at the Town Hall.
It promises to realise the potential of the industrial redbrick building, complete with new leisure opportunities, green space, and hundreds of flats. On the surface it's hardly anything new for Manchester.
But in reality, the plans for the historic Great Northern warehouse show how Manchester city centre could change over this decade. The proposals for the Grade II Deansgate building, which were approved in a mammoth four-hour planning meeting on February 16, are transformative.
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The warehouse's last major regeneration saw it turned into a leisure complex in 1999. It originally opened a hundred years before that as a ‘three-way goods exchange’, where goods could arrive and be shipped out by rail, canal, or road, with 'nine acres of streets' razed to make way for it.
A year after its completion, 34 shops and offices opened on its Deansgate side. They’re still there today, housing some of the city’s best-known estate agents, high-end furniture companies, and eateries in the section called Deansgate Terrace.
The regeneration will retain the warehouse, terrace - and the Deansgate Mews section in between - as they are. But there are big changes afoot, too.
On its way out is the 'Leisure Box' extension - which was built in the 1990s - and currently houses an Odeon cinema, The Gym, and an NCP car park. In its place, 746 apartments will be built across three new buildings, 34-and-27-storeys tall.
There will also be 'high quality' office space at the 'centrepiece' of the project, with 150,000 sq ft of workspace planned for around 1,800 people, with some of that coming from the conversion of the car park.
A new pedestrianised street, called Dean Street, will be created in the gap between the Warehouse and Terrace - which means the Mews will be accessed via a glass bridge.
To top it off there’s going to be a ‘green oasis’ in Great Northern Square, which fronts onto Peter Street. The scheme will also create permanent homes for developer Trilogy’s community-minded projects, too, like the Little Northerners play space, the free to use Village Hall, and popular Book Nook.
It all points to a growing trend in shopping districts across Greater Manchester: A move away from retail being the main focus, amenities based around 'experiences' coming to the fore, more residential property being built, and private businesses offering services for public use.
“I think the days of those massive single use sites are done”
The reason why Trilogy are so keen to spend £294 million and half-a-decade on the Great Northern project is they don’t think its potential has been fully exploited, James Heather, the company's Development Director, reveals.
“We want to put the building to better use,” he told the Manchester Evening News. “The car park is not the best use. We want to put it back to how it should be.”
“I think the days of those massive single use sites are done. It’s currently six-and-a-half acres surrounded by four roads.
“It was very much designed in the 1990s as a retail location — you would have driven in and out and there was no interaction with the city. Those days are over.
“I think large retailers might move away [from Manchester city centre]. I think it’s more a case of what the public wants from the shopping centre. Does the public want those big malls and shopping areas?
“I think they do out of town, but I am not sure it’s the best use of the site. People want to feel like they are in the city — Northern Quarter works with the cafe and bar culture because it’s more immersive.”
The move away from retail has already been seen at Great Northern, with free to use ventures like a sandpit, reading corner, and play area — all free to use — proving popular with city centre residents.
That’s according to May Molteno, Trilogy’s Head of Community. “Someone wanted to start running an art based activity for local residents,” she explained. “One person coming said 'you had me at free and crafts. I live in the city and it's so expensive'," she added.
May continued: “Someone else said 'I think what's happening is wonderful. I get a chance to meet other people and talk about what it's like to live here', and another came up with 'I have lived here for eight years and it's the first thing I have seen for people living here'.”
“It's a moral requirement of landowners… to support the community”
May believes there's a hunger for free to use facilities because Manchester city centre's population has boomed in the last 20 years, but there hasn't had the spaces to develop a sense of community.
“What communities need to organise is space,” she went on. “There's a huge amount of space and generosity at a grassroots level, but space is often a barrier.
“Public and free to use spaces are imperative for community activity. Now, it's on private businesses [to provide that].”
While the free spaces don’t directly bring money into the firms operating at the Warehouse, they do bring people in — so is there is an ulterior motive for creating these places?
May agrees that there is an element of ‘building footfall’, but is unequivocal in the importance of the facilities. She added: “The challenge of any development is that it's got to work for the investor. To make this happen, the owners have to supply a huge amount of money.
“I am looking for the sweet spot of developer needs — of someone coming in to rent a home or an office — and also what the community needs. You can feel it in a space that does not care about the wider community. They want your money, and that's it.
“You can feel it in a place that's passionate about different things happening. Free to use facilities bring in a wider demographic and more diverse set of uses and that makes it more interesting and vibrant and it builds a place of positive activity. It's a win-win.
“I think we want to create a neighbourhood with the vibrancy a little neighbourhood has. That's what could work here. If you only make a place that you need to be wealthy in, it changes the feel of it. We want to make a place where people feel welcome.”
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