Quay House, Quay Street

Manchester City Council Item 9 Planning and Highways Committee 8 May 2014 Application Number Date of Appln Committee Date Ward 104702/FO/2014/C1 20th Jan 2014 8th May 2014 City Centre Ward Proposal Demolition of Quay House and redevelopment of the site for the erection of a 20 storey building comprising offices (class B1) on the upper floors, with a restaurant (Class A3) at Level 18, retail (Class A1), restaurant and cafe uses (Class A3) at ground floor, basement car and cycle parking, and related highways, access, servicing, landscaping, roof top plant and associated works. Location Quay House, Quay Street, Manchester, M3 3JE, Applicant Hardman Square Investments Limited , C/o Agent Agent Mr John Cooper, Deloitte LLP, 2 Hardman Street, Spinningfields, Manchester, M3 3HF Description The application site relates to Quay House an 8 storey office building on the north side of Quay Street. The site is within Spinningfields and has an area of 0.39 ha. It is bounded by Hardman Square to the north, Byrom Street to the east, Quay Street to the south and Gartside Street to the west. Quay House was built in 1963, and has a basement car park with access via a ramp from Gartside Street. The broader area contains a mix of uses, including offices, a theatre, hotels, retail, leisure, residential and the courts. Cobden House, a Grade II* listed building, is situated to the south and to the east is the Grade II listed Opera House. Other Grade II listed buildings within the vicinity of the site, include Sunlight House on Quay Street, Royal London House on Deansgate, Georgian terraced buildings on St John Street and the Great John Street Hotel on Great John Street. The application site is not within a conservation area but the Deansgate Conservation Area lies to the east, St John Street Conservation Area to the south and Castlefield Conservation Area to the south west. The proposal involves the demolition of Quay House and the development of a 20 storey office building with retail and restaurant/café uses on the ground floor and ancillary basement car parking. At its highest point the building would be 121 metres and would comprise the following elements: • a ground plus 8 storeys component to the west providing ground and mezzanine retail use, amenity space and a double height terrace at Level 7 and plant at Level 8. This element of the building would have a bay, which would cantilever above the double-height ground floor level over Quay Street; • a ground plus 19 storeys element to the east, providing ground and mezzanine floor retail and café space, plant at Level 17 and a restaurant and double height terrace at Level 18; • a connecting podium element between Levels 1 and 6, cantilevering above the double-height ground floor level over Byrom Street; • an extension to the existing Quay House basement car park to incorporate a second basement level and an extension of the existing basement level to the north Manchester City Council Item 9 Planning and Highways Committee 8 May 2014 underneath Hardman Square. The basement would provide approximately 64 additional car parking spaces (100 spaces in total, including 6 disabled spaces), 10 motorcycle spaces and 100 secure cycle parking spaces, shower and locker facilities, a bin storage area and plant room; and, • a pedestrian route through the tower elements, which would connect Quay Street and Hardman Square. The proposals also provides for enhancements to public realm around the site to integrate the building with the high quality public realm around Hardman Square and the wider Spinningfields area. A drop-off / lay-by area is proposed underneath the cantilever over Byrom Street. Two secure office reception areas and entrances would be provided for tenants and a separate secure entrance and reception with lift access to the proposed restaurant at Level 18 would be provided off Byrom Street. The building would be predominantly glazed. The glass would be treated with a transparent solar control coating and fritting to control heating and provide privacy. The outer sheet of glass would be bonded to an aluminium frame that would be visible through certain areas of the glazing. The glazing panels would have a vertical emphasis being 4.2 metres (floor to floor) high and 1.5 metres wide. The solar coating would be designed to respond to the different orientations of the facades, with grey, blue and green colour variations. To achieve shading and privacy to the building, a ‘fritting’ technique would be applied to the glass to create opaque panels. Fritting is a ceramic paint which can be applied in a variety of patterns and densities to create an integral and durable coating. On the south elevation 50% of the panels would be ‘fritted’ creating a subtle chequer-board pattern, the east and west elevations would have 30% of panels fritted and the north elevation would remain clear. A fritted modesty panel would be applied at the base of the glazed units. A number of fritted screens are proposed to the entrance areas to provide a feature and to reduce any potential wind funnelling through the pedestrian routes. Environmental Impact Assessment The applicant has submitted an Environmental Statement in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 (‘The Regulations’). During the EIA process the applicant has considered an extensive range of potential environmental effects in consultation with relevant consultees, and it is considered that the issues that could give rise to significant impact are: Cultural heritage, Noise and vibration, Sunlight and daylight, and Wind. These issues are dealt with in detail further on in the report below. The issues considered to be unlikely to give rise to significant impacts are: Air quality, Archaeology, Ecology, Manchester City Council Item 9 Planning and Highways Committee 8 May 2014 Water resources and flood risk, Ground conditions and contamination, Telecommunications, and Transport. It is considered that the environmental statement has provided the Local Planning Authority with sufficient information to understand the likely environmental effects of the proposals and any required mitigation. Land Interest The City Council has a land interest in the site and the land edged red includes areas of highway. Members are reminded that in considering this matter, they are discharging their responsibility as Local Planning Authority and must disregard the City Councils land interest. Consultations Publicity – The application has been advertised in the Manchester Evening News as a major development, affecting the settings of the adjacent conservation areas, the settings of listed buildings and as an Environmental Statement application, and site notices have been displayed at the site. Occupiers of nearby properties have been notified of the application. Three letters of objection have been received; one from a member of Cobden House Chambers, one from the four trustees and Management Committee of Cobden House and one from the Ambassador Theatre Group (occupiers of the Opera House), making the following comments: o Loss of light and interference with a right to light to Cobden House Chambers, particularly as the proposed building would be closer than the existing building is currently – given the space behind the site the proposed building could be moved back to the current building line. o The Environmental Statement only considers light to Quay Street as a whole with no specific consideration of Cobden House; o Overshadowing and loss of light to the Opera House. o The Opera House requires uninterrupted access for loading and unloading of trucks on a daily basis to ensure its programme of events is not disrupted. o The Opera House is concerned that the demolition and building works would cause an unacceptable level of noise, vibration and disturbance, particularly impacting on matinee performances. o Inappropriate massing. No explanation is given as to why the Byrom Street end of the proposed building would be 20 storeys high with a cantilever and the Gartside Street end of the building would be only 6 storeys high. o They believe that the massing of the building has been designed purposefully to protect existing Allied London properties at Hardman Square and close to Gartside Street from loss of light and amenity at the expense of buildings not owned by that company, such as Cobden House and the Opera House. o The proposed building would dwarf existing buildings and, for it to be justified, it must be of great architectural merit. Manchester City Council Item 9 Planning and Highways Committee 8 May 2014 o Buildings on the north side of Quay Street are already taller and less harmonious than the buildings on the south side; the proposed building would increase this disharmony. o The artery between the agglomeration of barristers’ chambers along St John Street and Byrom Street and the Civil Justice Centre and Crown Square is a vital and much used pedestrian route. The proposed building would create a physical and psychological barrier along this route. o The design makes no attempt to complement any of the buildings in the vicinity, but rather would severely damage the settings of Cobden House Chambers and other listed buildings in the vicinity. o They draw attention to the pre-application views of English Heritage, which state that the proposal would “have a harmful effect and fail to sustain and enhance the significance of the heritage”. o The building would be out of character with the existing modern Spinningfields buildings that are about 6 storeys in height with rounded ends. o The building would a pleasant outdoor space within the City Centre cold, dark and useless. o It would be unattractive to see everything in the offices due to the full height glazing.

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