Plans for a new £50 million neighbourhood in Manchester’s Ancoats could see a disused storage depot turned into a new canalside district for city dwellers.
Submitted to Manchester City Council by developers Capital&Centric and Kamani Property Group, if successful they would see hundreds of new canalside apartments, townhouses and gardens take over the currently empty space.
Plans also include room for gardens and a new cafe bar or store, to be used by residents as a community hang out.
New images submitted as part of the plans show proposed designs for the new neighbourhood, which would include 193 homes with a mixture of 1 and 2-bed apartments, 3-bed duplexes and townhouses fronting onto Carruthers Street.
It’s the second collaboration between the two Manchester-based developers, who have teamed up to breathe new life into the historic site. If approved, work could start on site in early 2023.
Fusing together old and new, projected images should reassure local history buffs that the iconic Ancoats Works frontage on Pollard Street will be retained.
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Inside, meanwhile, new apartments will feature a modern twist on the red-brick buildings that have long dominated the area – the home of industry in Manchester for hundreds of years.
Further plans include restoring the unloved canalside, by creating a lush new garden with pretty lighting and lush foliage.
Speaking on the new development plans Adam Kamani, CEOat Kamani Property, said: “We think this community will be a really vibrant addition to Ancoats as it grows.
“The design strikes the perfect blend between old and new – retaining parts of the historic building with the iconic ‘Ancoats Works’ signage, whilst creating design-led homes on what’s currently a pretty unloved, industrial site.
“As well as new homes, we plan to deliver stunning outdoor spaces and improve the canalside, making the space much more welcoming with real character.”
Adam Higgins, co-founder at Capital&Centric, said: “At our communities in Piccadilly East and Kampus, we’ve seen first-hand that Manchester’s diverse neighbourhoods are attracting a real mix of people wanting to put down roots in the city.
“More and more, young families, retirees and downsizers are wanting to call the city home, as well as the more stereotypical young professionals.
“Ancoats Works responds to that, with a mix of townhouses and apartments to help foster a diverse neighbourhood, as well as spaces like the corner café bar and gardens where a genuine community can bond and grow. We’re excited about getting going.”
Submission of the Ancoats Works application follows community consultation last year. The collaboration follows the two companies joining up on plans for a site on Swan Street in the Northern Quarter, consented by Manchester City Council in 2021.
Feature image – Supplied
City Centre
One of Manchester’s newest arts venues to host brand-new comedy festival this summer
Emily Sergeant
A brand-new comedy festival is set to take over one of the city centre’s newest arts venues this summer.
That’s right… some of the UK’s best comedy names are coming to Manchester.
That’s because renowned production company, A Lovely Time, has put together an absolutely jam-packed lineup of television names, internet sensations, and hotly-tipped newcomers, for a weekend full of comedy shows in the heart of the city centre at the exciting new arts venue Fairfield Social Club – which is tucked away down at the Green Quarter.
The exciting new festival, which is called A Lovely Weekend, will kick off on Friday 7 June with a gala show hosted by the company’s very-own Amy Gledhill, who comedy fans may recognise from appearances on BBC‘s Would I Lie To You, and more.
Then, across the rest of the three-day long weekend lineup, you can expect to catch comedy sets and work-in-progress performances from the likes of Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees Phil Ellis (Icklewick FM on BBC Radio 4), and Olga Koch (Live at The Apollo on BBC One), Paddy Young, who recently won the BBC New Comedy Award, Chris Cantrill (Avoidance on BBC One), and Blackpool’s-finest Tom Lawrinson.
Internet sensations such as Stevie Martin and Abi Clarke are also on the lineup, as well as hotly-tipped Edinburgh debutante, Hannah Platt, and Geordie sketch supergroup, Metroland.
You can even catch something a little bit different from Poppy Hillstead too, who’s set to transfer her popular podcast to the stage.
Split across two venues over three days, A Lovely Weekend is all looking set to be the largest undertaking from comedy production super-duo, A Lovely Time, which was created by promoter John Stansfield and comedian Chris Cantrill, and, as mentioned, it will take over the newly-opened Fairfield Social Club – a venue which has already hosted brilliant shows from the likes of Josie Long, Three Bean Salad, Ashley Gavin, and Nick Helm since opening back in March.
“We’re so excited to be bringing A Lovely Weekend to Manchester,” commented founder, John Stansfield.
“The city is long overdue a proper comedy festival, and across the three days at Fairfield Social Club, we’ve programmed some of our absolute favourites to ensure a lovely time for all.”
Tickets to A Lovely Weekend have just gone on sale yesterday (Wednesday 1 November), and are already selling fast – with both day and full weekend passes available from £20, and individual show tickets up for grabs from £6 each too.
Manchester’s new Instagrammable coffee shop is giving away FREE drinks tomorrow
Emily Sergeant
One of Manchester’s newest Instagrammable coffee shops is giving away free drinks tomorrow ahead of the bank holiday weekend.
With another long weekend right around the corner, and much of Greater Manchester and the UK fortunately looking set to bask in the springtime heat, popular coffee chain, Blank Street – which is one of Manchester city centre’s newest residents, with two sites in Piccadilly Gardens, and on the corner of King Street and Cross Street – has decided it wants to help the country “beat the 3pm slump”.
Ahead of the upcoming bank holiday weekend, the chain is inviting Mancs to “meet for matcha” tomorrow afternoon (Friday 3 May).
The exciting freebie offer is all said to be “inspired by data” that shows that almost half of office workers aren’t taking a break from their desks during the day, even despite research showing that this can boost productivity.
Hundreds of iced matcha lattes will be served up at Blank Street‘s Manchester branch on the corner of King Street and Cross Street between 3pm and 4pm tomorrow.
Manchester’s new Instagrammable coffee shop is giving away free drinks tomorrow / Credit: Blank Street
For anyone “ice cold pick-me-up ahead of the long weekend”, but keen not to tip their employers off, the coffee shop chain has created an online tool to allow workers to discreetly add a matcha moment to their diary.
The brand-new online tool will apparently help to “distract calendar snoopers” by creating a cleverly-named meeting and adding it automatically to Outlook, Google, or Apple calendars – with potential meeting titles that include plenty of corporate jargon to “provide the perfect alibi”.
So, all matcha fans need to do tomorrow afternoon is show the Blank Street team at their chosen branch a meeting in their calendar, and in return, they’ll receive a free small iced matcha latte of their choice from the chain’s delicious spring menu.
Blank Street’s popular matcha offering includes the Classic Matcha, the viral Blueberry Matcha, the silky-smooth White Chocolate Matcha, and the brand-new sumptuous Golden Matcha, so there’s something to “inspire every matcha lover to take a little time out”.
As matcha allows a slow release of caffeine, Blank Street says it’s the “perfect drink” to keep energy levels up throughout the afternoon when you’re stuck at your desk on a Friday.