Property

Plans to demolish Premier Inn and replace it with 38-storey student skyscraper approved

Big changes in this part of town.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 2nd June 2023

Plans to build a huge skyscraper of student accommodation have been approved, with the existing Deansgate Locks Premier Inn on the site demolished.

The plans were first submitted in November 2022, replacing the hotel on Medlock Street with a 38-storey building that will provide rooms for 1014 students. 

Also in the plans is a 13-storey office building, providing 36,000 sq m of Grade A office space. 

The proposal includes a new piece of artwork which is nine storeys tall, the artist behind which will be chosen through a competition. 

Whitbread, the company behind Premier Inn Hotels, is working with property developers Dominvs Group on the huge development.

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They say they also plan to include three new public spaces – ‘The Wood’, which will resemble native UK woodland; ‘Rain Garden’, which will manage rain in a ‘playful and sustainable way’; and ‘Edge Street’, which will be a new green street with trees and ornamental plants.

They say: “Whitbread and Dominvs Group are bringing forward proposal at One Medlock Street that will contribute to the ongoing transformation at First Street, supporting a vibrant growing community, making an attractive and sustainable setting for work, living and study.

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“At street level the scheme opens the site up, creating activity to enhance the pedestrian experience through a series of high-quality street and a new public realm.

“The proposed scheme is a mixed-use, office and purpose-build student accommodation scheme.

“As part of the current proposals, the Premier Inn building would be demolished and redeveloped.”

Featured image: Whitbread / Dominvs

Property

Top 10 cheapest UK areas for first time buyers revealed – and two are only an hour from Manchester

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Houses

The 10 cheapest areas to buy your first house in the UK have been revealed, and two are only an hour away from Manchester.

After it was revealed that more than 70,000 home buyers across England are estimated to have missed the stamp duty relief deadline, which means that they’ll now be required to fork out thousands of pounds extra as of yesterday (1 April), the cheapest places to get your foot on the property ladder in 2025 have now been named.

While the end of the stamp duty relief will mostly affect those who had already previously purchased properties, first time buyers are sadly not exempt, as their current stamp duty threshold of £425,000 has now fallen back to £300,000.

So if you’re looking to buy your first home, this is a list to keep a close eye on.

Handing over the keys to a new house
The top 10 cheapest UK areas for first time buyers have been revealed / Credit: Pavel Danilyuk (via Pexels)

Property platform Rightmove has crunched the numbers and come up with a top 10 list for those on a budget and considering lower-priced areas they can move to, with the Scottish town of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire being named the cheapest area for a first time buyer to get onto the property ladder, as the average asking price for a typical first time buyer-type home here is just over £84,000.

Scotland keeps on pulling through, as the twon of Greenock in Inverclyde is second on the list, with an average asking price of £88,862, followed by Grimsby in third at £93,427.

As far as the North West is concerned, no residential areas in Greater Manchester have made the cut this time around, but the region’s two representatives on the list are only around an hour away from Manchester.

Top 10 cheapest UK areas for first time buyers

  1. Kilmarnock – £84,325
  2. Greenock – £88,862
  3. Grimsby – £93,427
  4. Blackpool – £93,711
  5. Middlesbrough – £95,473
  6. Hartlepool £99,525
  7. Paisley – £99,570
  8. East Killbride – £100,814
  9. Ayr – £101,391
  10. Burnley – £102,848

You’ll have to cross over the border into Lancashire if you’re looking for a budget-friendly first time home, as Blackpool takes the fourth spot on the list, with an average price of £93,711, and Burnley also makes an appearance at number 10 with an average price of £102,848.

The North overall is pretty well-represented, with other towns and cities such as Middlesbrough and Hartlepool featuring in the top 10, but according to the data, Scotland is by far the cheapest country to get on the property ladder in the UK.

Paisley, East Killbride, and Ayr also find themselves on the list lower down, as well as the two aforementioned Scottish towns in first and second place.

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Experts at Rightmove explained that wage growth has unfortunately ‘outpaced’ the rise in average asking prices for first time buyer homes in the last five years, so while this has slightly increased the mortgage borrowing power of first time buyers, affordability is still said to remains ‘very stretched’ overall.

Featured Image – Benjamin Elliott (via Unsplash)

Property

More than 70,000 home buyers set to pay thousands after missing stamp duty relief deadline

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant New build houses

More than 70,000 home buyers across England are estimated to have missed the stamp duty relief deadline.

This sadly means they’ll be required to fork out thousands of pounds extra.

In case you hadn’t heard, up until yesterday (31 March 2025), anyone who was moving and had bought a home in the past was not required to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax, better-known as just stamp duty, on the portion of the property price up to £250,000.

But from today (1 April), this threshold has now fallen back to £125,000, which unfortunately means that property purchasers are facing an extra £2,500 in moving costs, on average.

While the end of the stamp duty relief will mostly affect those Greater Manchester buyers who had already previously purchased properties, first time buyers are sadly not exempt from the deadline changes too, as their current stamp duty threshold of £425,000 has now fallen back to £300,000 as of today.

Keys to a new house
Person holding the keys to a new house in their hand / Credit: Maria Ziegler (via Unsplash)

Given that the average property price for a first time buyer-type home is currently around £227,965, according to Rightmove, the new £300,000 threshold may hit those purchasing properties in more expensive areas – particularly the South East.

A third of those estimated 70,000 home buyers who have missed the deadline are thought to be first time buyers.

Leading property platform Rightmove published an analysis in February into just how much of an impact the end of the stamp duty relief would have on home buyers, all while calling on the UK Government to announce a short extension to the deadline to help people in the middle of the property purchasing process avoid potentially thousands of pounds in extra moving costs.

But despite these calls from industry leaders, there was no extension to the deadline announced in the last week’s latest Spring Statement.

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“It’s extremely disappointing that the Government has not used the Spring Statement as an opportunity to extend the impending stamp duty deadline for those currently going through the home-moving process,” commented Rightmove’s property expert Colleen Babcock.

“We estimate over 70,000 people are going to miss the deadline and complete in April instead, and a third of those are first time buyers.”

Featured Image – James Feaver (via Unsplash)

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