A site on Postal Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter has been named as This City’s next development site to increase the number of homes for Manchester people.
The site is anticipated to deliver a minimum of 100 new low-carbon city centre apartments at least 20% of which will be available for accessible rent. This means they will be priced at or below the Local Housing Allowance level and therefore accessible to residents on housing benefit.
The Postal Street site will include a shared residents’ lounge and garden space. And the development will seek to be accredited by the Association of Environmentally Conscious Buildings (AECB).
This City is a new concept that will allow the Council to take control of part of the affordable housing delivery pipeline for the city and has the ambition to scale up to deliver up to 500 new homes each year – thereby increasing the number of accessible rent homes available to Manchester people.
The housing delivery company will build a mix of accessible and market rent homes – with the latter helping to subsidise the accessible rent properties and increase the number of affordable homes in the city.
A consultation will open in the summer to gather public views on the proposals for the Postal Street site ahead of a planning application later this year.
Hawkins/Brown have been named the architect for the project, with Faithful + Gould acting as project managers.
Last month, the Council announced the first scheme brought forward by This City on Rodney Street in Ancoats, which will deliver 128 low-carbon apartments and townhouses – 30% of which will be for accessible rent. The Rodney Street site will also include a public green and public realm space.
Manchester is on track to exceed the city’s ambitious target to help build 6,400 new affordable homes between 2015 and 2025 – accounting for at least 20% of the city’s pipeline of 32,000 homes. Now, more than 7,000 affordable homes are expected to be built by 2025.
Cllr Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and employment, said:
“The idea behind This City is to increase the number of homes accessible to Manchester residents, so it’s great to see the second site be brought forward quickly following the launch of the company last month. Once again Postal Street will deliver both market and accessible rent homes – the latter helping to increase the number of affordable homes in the city centre that give Manchester people more choice about where they live.”
