Former footballer turned property developer Gary Neville has officially named Laing O’Rourke as construction partner for his high profile £200m St Michael’s scheme in Manchester.
Design refinements for the scheme have been submitted to Manchester City Council, with the aim of starting construction in the late summer.
Located in Deansgate, the St Michael’s scheme will consist of a landmark 40-storey tower and stepped extended podium building, designed by architect Hodder and Partners.
It will include more than 163,000 sq ft of office space, 22,722 sq ft of leisure space - including an outdoor rooftop terrace - and a boutique five-star hotel in the former Bootle Street police station, which will retain its frontage.
The scheme has gone through a number of changes since plans were first unveiled in July 2016, when they featured two high-rise, black clad towers reaching 29 and 39 storeys respectively, designed by Make Architects.
The proposals would have seen the demolition of all the buildings on the site, including the Sir Ralph Abercromby pub and Bootle Street police station.
The scheme inspired fierce opposition, with a petition reaching thousands of signatures, protesting against the height in such a central location, and the loss of the historic assets.
A refreshed proposal by Hodder + Partners followed in summer 2017, and include a single 40-storey lozenge-shaped tower, clad in bronze anodized aluminium. The Abercromby pub and the façade of the Bootle Street police station will also be retained as part of the revised plans.
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Gary Neville, on behalf of the St Michael’s Partnership said: “We’re delighted to officially announce Laing O’Rourke as construction partner on St Michael’s.
“The level of input given by them and the team really puts us in a good position to progress swiftly with the final stage of design early in 2020.”
Stephen Hodder, chairman of Hodder + Partners, said: “I’m pleased that the design development supports the original consented scheme. It was so important to us that during this stage the team maintained the quality, scale and volume of the consented plans, which we have successfully achieved.”
Céire O’Rourke, Laing O’Rourke director, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed by St Michael’s Partnership to deliver what will become a landmark development in Manchester’s city centre.
"We will be using modern methods of construction with a high percentage of the development being manufactured off site and assembled on site.
"These methods, known as Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) minimise disruption, vital in such a tightly constrained site and give the client more certainty in terms of the programme timetable.
“Our established Manchester team; some of whom have been responsible for delivering projects across the City including the Central Library and Town Hall extension refurbishment, Manchester Metrolink and The Henry Royce Institute look forward to starting on site this year.”