Work has finally started on one of the biggest – and last remaining – regeneration sites in Manchester with the £195m transformation of the former Boddingtons Brewery site.
Over the course of the next two and a half years, property developer Salboy and its construction partner DOMIS will turn the 52,700 sqft site into Waterhouse Gardens, a mixed-used scheme across five buildings, including a 20-storey tower, and a landscaped public realm.
Taking its name from Alfred Waterhouse, the Victorian architect behind Manchester Town Hall and Manchester's Strangeways Gaol, Waterhouse Gardens will provide 556 new homes, access for residents to their own clubhouse with swimming pools, squash and basketball courts, lounges and games rooms, private dining, cinema room, meeting rooms and work spaces and a private landscaped garden.
The plans also include 31,000 sqft of commercial space, complete with landscaped external seating areas, so the hunt starts now for leisure operators looking to open new bars and restaurants in the city who can tap into the growing residential population, as well customers of the adjacent AO Arena.
Aiming to open some 21 years after Boddingtons Brewery called time in 2005, the new area aims to appeal to all, as Simon Ismail, MD at Salboy told BusinessLive's Jon Robinson: "We've specifically and painstakingly designed a new local neighbourhood that'll suit anyone - renters and owners alike - who's seeking a vibrant, convenient, city central lifestyle where what they need and want is available on site at a consistently high quality and easy access." Read the full story, and get a glimpse at what it will look like once finished, here. |