Manchester is set to welcome its new tallest building after ambitious plans for a 76-storey skyscraper in the city centre were approved in a key planning meeting.
Councillors gave the green light to proposals for more than 150 storeys spanning three separate developments, including Salboy's 76-storey Viadux tower, a prestigious 44-storey residential block on Whitworth Street West, and a towering 33-storey structure dedicated to student accommodation located close to First Street.
Viadux 2a will soar to a height of 246 metres and house 452 apartments alongside a luxury 160-room Nobu hotel co-owned by actor Robert De Niro. Next door, Viadux 2b will offer affordable living spaces within its 23 floors.
Salboy's managing director Simon Ismail said: "As the location of not just the tallest tower outside London but a large number of high quality affordable homes, Viadux has the potential to become a symbol of this city's aspirations and confidence in itself.
"Viadux now promises to shape not only Manchester's skyline for years to come, but the city's sense of identity on the global stage."
Following the meeting, Salboy declared the name of the 246m tower would be 'Nobu Manchester', suggesting the name of the 23-storey building will be decided in the near future.
These Salboy towers are planned for a site adjacent to the Manchester Central convention facility, which had expressed concerns about the project last year. The centre was particularly apprehensive that its delivery area would be reduced by '60pc in usable area', posing operational challenges that could impact the ability to host large-scale events due to extended setup times.
But Salboy and venue operator Manchester Central carried out successful negotiations, resulting in no objections from the venue at Thursday's meeting.
Historic England did submit a formal objection to the city planning committee. The council's chief planner, Dave Roscoe, presented Historic England's position, saying: "Their concern is that 76 storeys is too tall for this location and construction would cause harm to some of the city's most important historic buildings."
Later on, Mr Roscoe said the council had to 'take a more balanced view' understanding the potential impact on heritage sites such as St Ann's Church and the iconic Manchester Town Hall but also acknowledging the merits of the development: "It's a high level of impact on highly-graded listed buildings in the city. But everyone agrees that harm will be less than substantial.
"In those circumstances we have to apply planning balance. We have to identify the public benefit of this scheme and [if] they outweigh the level of harm."
Ultimately, he advised the committee: "Our advice is we do believe those benefits do outweigh the harm."
The ambitious plans for both the Viadux project and a new 44-storey tower on Whitworth Street West, across from Deansgate Locks, were approved comfortably.
Glenbrook, the developer behind the latter skyscraper, intends to invest £118m into creating a landmark residence that it says will 'push the boundaries of city-centre living', with its distinctive terracotta-hued façade enhanced by street-level arches.
Neighbours expressed objections to the proposed development near the Rebellion music venue, drawing parallels with the protracted legal row around Northern Quarter's Night & Day Cafe.
The popular bar, established back in 1991, was embroiled in disputes following a noise abatement notice from the local council in late 2021. Ultimately, early in 2024, a judge dismissed Night & Day Cafe's appeal against the notice but sided with Night & Day on resolving the issue.
Alex Kostyakov, co-owner of Rebellion, said ongoing construction might jeopardise the venue's future. He warned: "Due to the other construction work on the opposite side it feels like they will need to park [construction vehicles] on Bugle Street. If we cannot park tour buses on Bugle Street we will have to cease operation."
Council officer Mr Roscoe said a construction management plan would be created to ensure tour buses had access to the venue. The council has also added a condition to the planning permission to ensure the new scheme has adequate sound insulation to address neighbours' concerns over potential noise disturbances.
Later in the day, the city gave approval to another high-rise project — a part-12, part-33 storeys tall student housing block near First Street.
A local resident voiced concerns that the 861-room building would be 'oppressive to our low-lying residential areas' in Hulme. Despite this, the project received unanimous support after its representative assured councillors that the scheme 'aligns with the council's vision for concentrating student accommodation within the Oxford Road corridor'.
