Plans have been approved for the UK’s ‘first of a kind’ purpose-built majority LGBTQ+ Extra Care social rent housing scheme in Whalley Range
Proposals for the site of the former Spire Hospital on Russell Road, Whalley Range were approved at Manchester City Council’s planning meeting yesterday
The brownfield site has remained vacant since the hospital was demolished in September 2019.
Commenting on the planning approval actor Ian McKellen, LGBT Foundation patron and committed supporter of the Pride in Ageing Programme, who visited the Russell Road site earlier this year, said:
It’s wonderful to see Manchester leading the way yet again. Our community deserves to be able to age in a safe and welcoming environment where we are accepted for who we are, and Russell Road will do just that. Congratulations to everyone involved in the project and I look forward to following its progress and seeing the scheme open!
The development will deliver 80 one- and two-bedroom apartments for older people within a high-quality sustainable building offering a safe and welcoming feel and inviting presence whilst designed to respect the surrounding conservation area. The low-carbon scheme will include shared communal facilities including lounges, treatment rooms and landscaped gardens and will deliver an overall net gain of trees on the site.
The site will also include a neighbouring development of shared ownership homes; with 40 homes in a mix of one- and two-bed apartments.
The shared ownership product will deliver an alternative option to access the housing ladder, helping to address affordability issues in the area. The shared ownership apartment block has private amenity space and adds to the sense of place this development offers the existing community.
