Hundreds of apartments are to be built in place of two former office buildings in Salford, with both set to be demolished.
Custom and Furness House will be knocked down to make way for the new 22 and 24-storey structures complete with commercial space on the ground floor.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, previous plans for the residential towers involved the conversion of the buildings, with an extension of additional floors for flats above.
These buildings at Furness Quay have now been stripped, leaving only their concrete frames, while another two apartment blocks are built on the site.
But developer Fortis faced 'insurmountable challenges', finding structural issues with the buildings which made the conversion commercially unviable.
The new buildings, named Herreshoff and Danforth, will accommodate 336 apartments, featuring a mix of studio, one, two and three-bedroom flats.
There would also be one commercial unit in each building with a total floor space of 452sq m between them, together with central ground floor lobbies.
Planning consultant Helen Marks told councillors on April 1 that the developer remains 'fully committed' to delivering its plans for the Salford site.
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She said: "While work on site has now substantially progressed with the development of the two new-build blocks - Northill and Grapnel - the conversion of the existing office accommodation has been complicated by unforeseen issues with the existing structures.
"During 2020, the decision was taken to fundamentally revisit the extension and conversion of the existing blocks due to costs and associated issues of viability.
"The current application is a result of that exercise and ultimately is considered to represent a better response to the site."
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Architect Stephen Hodder told the planning panel at the virtual meeting that the new designs seek to 'capture the character' of the former office buildings.
He said the two residential towers will contribute to 'a family of buildings', 'spiralling upwards' to the new Northill tower which would be a 'focal point'.
Retaining the character of these buildings is a 'fundamental principle', he said.
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But 'freed from the constraints of the existing structures', the replacement buildings will provide 'ideal apartment layouts' and improve 'livability'.
Conservative councillor Karen Garrido was 'sorry' to see the buildings go.
She said: "I'm quite saddened to see that these two buildings, Customs House and Furness House, are actually going because they were part of the Docks."
Salford council officer Caerwen Ramsden told the panel that a totem pole that was once located on the site will be erected again as part of the development.
Six councillors voted to approve the new application with only Conservative councillors Karen Garrido and Bob Clarke voting against the revised plans.