Manchester City Council Item 6 Planning and Highways Committee 8 March 2018 Application Number Date of Appln Committee Date Ward 114664/FO/2016 24th Jan 2017 8th Mar 2018 City Centre Ward Proposal Partial demolition of existing buildings. Development up to 171.6m AOD comprising residential (Use Class C3), offices (Use Class B1), hotels (Use Class C1), place of worship (Use Class D1) and leisure/food and drink uses (Classes A1, A3, A4, A5 and D2). Creation of public spaces and new public realm, provision of basement car parking, highway alterations, landscaping and associated works. Location Land Bounded By Jacksons Row, Bootle Street, Southmill Street & 201 Deansgate, Manchester, M2 5GU Applicant , Jacksons Row Developments Limited, C/o Agent Agent Mr Mike Ralph, Zerum Consult Ltd, 4 Jordan Street, Manchester, M15 4PY INTRODUCTION This application proposes a major mixed use development at a large site in the City Centre known as St Michael’s. The proposal has been modified since originally submitted and the revised scheme has been subject to a further full round of notification and consultation. The site has been identified by the City Council as a major regeneration priority that could deliver a range of economic, physical, social and environmental benefits for the city and city region. The Jackson’s Row Strategic Regeneration Framework was endorsed for the site by the Executive in December 2015 and is a material planning consideration. The SRF aims to guide the development of the site in a manner that recognises its physical and locational characteristics. It dentifies ten objectives that future development should aspire to and identifies that the site should be developed for a high-density, mixed use scheme comprising offices, synagogue, residential, hotel and retail within a shared space. THE SITE AND ITS LOCATION The site is bounded by Jackson’s Row, Bootle Street, Southmill Street and the rear of 201 Deansgate. It is occupied by: The former Bootle Street Police Station, built in 1937 and closed in 2014; The Manchester Reform Synagogue built in 1953; and, the Sir Ralph Abercrombie Pub, originally built in the early 19th Century and significantly rebuilt since, and surface car parking. There is a 4 metre level difference across the site with the land falling east to west towards Deansgate. It is adjacent to the civic quarter, the central business district and Spinningfields. The townscape in this area is mixed and includes the Deansgate/Peter’s Street Conservation Area, the Albert Square Conservation Area, and the St Peter’s Square Conservation Area. The predominant use is offices along with food and drink and Item 6 – Page 1 Manchester City Council Item 6 Planning and Highways Committee 8 March 2018 leisure uses. Permeability and movement within the area between John Dalton Street and Peter Street is generally poor and the site contributes to this. The site is within the Deansgate/ Peter Street Conservation Area but none of the buildings are listed. However, all three buildings are non-designated heritage assets and contribute to the heritage and character of the area. There are 72 listed buildings and nine conservation areas within the 250m radius, but not all would be impacted by the proposal. These include the Grade I Town Hall, Grade II* Town Hall Extension, Grade II* Central Library, the Grade 1 listed Albert Memorial and Grade I St Ann’s Church. A supporting Heritage Statement appraises the character and value of the conservation areas and confirms that Southmill Street, Jackson’s Row and Bootle Street all contribute to its character. The site is highly accessible by all forms of sustainable transport. There are a number of bus stops nearby and all three Metroshuttle services stop within 120 metres and provide free connections to Deansgate, Oxford Road, Piccadilly and Victoria train stations, as well as connections to the Metrolink tram routes. Train services from Piccadilly provide connections to major national cities as well as direct services to Manchester Airport. Deansgate rail station and the Deansgate/Castlefield tram interchange is 400m south of the site, the St Peters Square Metrolink stop is 200 metres to the east. REVISED PROPOSALS The original application proposed the development of two towers, a podium and two public squares, following the demolition of all buildings on the site. The scheme was revised following extensive feedback, and in particular that expressed by Historic England, to retain and incorporate the Sir Ralph Abercrombie and the Portland stone frontage of the former police station. The revised proposals include a single tower with a podium, together with a mid-rise building. Objections to the original submission related to:- • The demolition of the existing buildings on the site, particularly the Sir Ralph Abercrombie pub and the Portland Stone building of the former Police station; • The impact on nearby designated heritage assets and listed buildings, particularly the Town Hall Complex, and conservation areas; • The impact of the height and mass of the proposal on key views; • The architecture was felt to be poor; • The colour was too dark; • It was inward facing with very little activation at street level; and • Some public benefits were described as overstated and were not sufficient to outweigh the harm caused. Historic England accepted that the area required some life and vitality but they considered that the development would cause substantial harm to the significance of a number of heritage assets, including the nationally valued Town Hall and civic Item 6 – Page 2 Manchester City Council Item 6 Planning and Highways Committee 8 March 2018 buildings, and that the harm was neither necessary nor justified. The development would not therefore be sustainable due to its impact on the historic environment and would not comply with the National Planning Policy Framework; and the Core Strategy. They objected to the application on heritage grounds. In the context of this strong objection from Historic England, a series of meetings were held to discuss alternative approaches to the development. The description of the development as originally submitted was:- “Demolition of existing buildings. Development up to 21 and 31 storeys comprising residential (Use Class C3), offices (Use Class B1), hotel (Use Class C1), place of worship (Use Class D1) and leisure/ food and drink uses (Classes A1, A3 A4, A5 and D2). Creation of two new public squares and new public realm, provision of basement car parking, highway alterations, landscaping and associated works.” This has now been amended as follows, : "Partial demolition of existing buildings. Development up to 171.6m AOD comprising residential (Use Class C3), offices (Use Class B1), hotels (Use Class C1), place of worship (Use Class D1) and leisure/ food and drink uses (Classes A1, A3, A4, A5 and D2). Creation of public spaces and new public realm, provision of basement car parking, highway alterations, landscaping and associated works.” The changes to the scheme description relate to: • the Abercrombie would be retained; • The frontage to the Police station would be retained; • the height of the scheme is reduced, and is represented as a height rather than the number of storeys (see below for more detail); • the provision of two hotels, rather than one, and • changes in the open spaces. The revised description identifies a measured height as opposed to the number of storeys to ensure that the height of the development cannot exceed that tested within the submission. ‘AOD’ is ‘above ordnance datum’ so there can be no confusion about how measurements have been taken as AOD disregards local topography. The revised scheme has 9 storeys more than the original scheme yet is 1.43m lower AOD height. This is due to topography, the void space at the top of the original proposals and double-height storeys at some levels in the original scheme. THE PROPOSAL The proposal consists of two mixed use buildings located around a public space. The tower to the west would comprises a 6 storey podium with 34 floors above. The second building to the east would be 10/11 storeys and incorporate the Southmill Street façade of the existing Police Station. The Sir Ralph Abercrombie pub would be retained and the podium to the tower would be created around it. The toilet extension would be demolished and new toilets provided but no significant changes are proposed to the pub. The rear garden would Item 6 – Page 3 Manchester City Council Item 6 Planning and Highways Committee 8 March 2018 be lost but a public square would be developed to the front of the property which would enhance its setting and provide some outdoor seating. The tower would be located to the western part of the site and would be 40 storeys (up to 171.6m AOD) including it’s 6 storey podium. It would accommodate a replacement synagogue, a 5* hotel and the apartments. Restaurants and bars would activate street frontages, the new square, and a new route through the site. A generous public external staircase would connect the podium to a terrace on top of the office building. The entrances to the Synagogue, apartments and hotel would be located on Jackson’s Row. The synagogue would occupy the ground to second floor levels of the podium. Its double height sanctuary would be on the first and second floor levels along with meeting rooms, offices, and function spaces. An external terrace would be provided to the south west at first floor level. The proposal would ensure that the Manchester Reform Synagogue congregation continue to have a city centre location. There are no other synagogues within Manchester City Centre. The hotel conferencing, spa and leisure facilities would occupy the second and fourth floors of the podium with dining, lounge, bar and reception areas on the fifth and sixth floors.