Allied London has tweaked plans for its mixed-use London Road Fire Station scheme in Manchester, shrinking the amount of hotel rooms to make way for more office space.
Consent was granted in 2017 by Manchester City Council for Allied to redevelop the 100,000 sq ft Grade II listed building into a mixed-use scheme, including more than 74,600 sq ft of hotel space (91 bedrooms), some 36,100 sq ft of retail space, and more than 8,568 sq ft of office space (including 21,000 sq ft of living or work space).
Now the developer has lodged plans to “fine tune” the approved scheme “in response to new operators and market conditions”, according to the planning statement, which Allied says will “result in lesser interventions to the heritage asset”.
The revised plans propose to reduce the amount of hotel space planned for the development to circa 24,000 sq ft (41 bedrooms) and increase the office space to more than 41,500 sq ft.
Allied bought the site, which has been left vacant for more than 30 years, in 2015. The sale ended a decade-long spat between previous owner Britannia Hotels and Manchester City Council.
The scheme received planning consent in 2010 for a 227-bedroom hotel but Britannia failed to bring the development forward, resulting in the council attempting to compulsorily purchase the building twice in 2010 and 2014. The wrangle cost the council more than £1.5m in legal fees.
London Road Fire Station was the headquarters of the Manchester Fire Brigade until its replacement by the Greater Manchester Fire Service in 1974.
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