We have started on the first housing scheme for Manchester City Council’s This City development company
We have started on the first housing scheme for Manchester City Council’s This City development company
We’ve celebrated starting on site at a new 128-home low carbon development in Ancoats, the first project for This City, Manchester City Council’s housing development company.
The development at Rodney Street will include 118 apartments across two buildings (a mix of 27 one bed and 91 two bed homes), alongside 10 town houses (eight three bed and two four bed homes) – and will overlook an improved and expanded Ancoats Green.
This City is bringing long-term brownfield land at Rodney Street in Ancoats back into use, creating high quality housing in a highly sustainable location, allowing residents to walk, cycle and use nearby public transport to access local services and employment. Approximately a third of the homes will be made available at the Manchester Living Rent, while the remaining homes will be available at market rent.
Each of the town houses will include off-street parking with electric vehicle (EV) parking and private gardens to the rear.
Significant planting and new trees will green the development and complement the wider public realm strategy to make Ancoats a low-carbon, sustainable neighbourhood.
Rodney Street will be a low energy/low carbon residential scheme to AECB Accreditation (Association for Environmental Conscious Building). Designed to be a zero-carbon ready building, we’re working closely with architect Buttress to adopt Passivhaus principles.
We’re also making significant commitments to delivering true Social Value throughout the project. These include creating 140 weeks of student work experience and creating T Level placements, investing in local Voluntary Community and Social Enterprises, as well as providing 200 hours of voluntary time to local community projects which Wates has already delivered nearly twice over.
This City is a new development company owned wholly by Manchester City Council. The ambition is to scale up housing development to at least 500 properties each year using Council-owned land to directly build the homes that Manchester residents need.
The company will build a mix of affordable tenures and market rent properties, with at least 20% of these homes to be made available at the Manchester Living Rent.
Marking our first start-on-site for This City is a real moment for us. The aim for This City is about using Council-owned land to build the homes that our residents need, that our residents can affordable, in locations they want to live. Rodney Street exemplifies this vision.
The regeneration journey of Ancoats over the last 20years has been a remarkable achievement, and this development continues that story, creating low carbon homes and affordable housing options in the city centre, complemented by quality green space and sustainable transport options.
The road to building this type of housing is always challenging, particularly in the context of the current economic conditions, but we are proud to celebrate these homes and what they will mean to the Manchester people who live in them.”
Cllr Gavin White
Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development
Rodney Street represents a pioneering shift in development approach for Manchester City Council and we’re proud to support them in their ambitions. We’ve worked closely with our project partners and the Council since the scheme’s inception to carefully plan out how we can ensure Rodney Street delivers its sustainability goals, as well as provides lasting benefit to the wider Ancoats community through Social Value initiatives.
We have a long history working with councils across the North and beyond on similar residential schemes and the positive impact that considered, sustainable provision of new affordable homes has on an area cannot be underplayed. I applaud Manchester City Council and This City for bringing this development to life and now we’re underway with construction, I and all our teams, look forward to delivering the next milestone.”
Dave Saville
Regional Managing Director of Wates Construction
