{"id":307294,"date":"2025-07-31T19:01:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T19:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/307294\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T19:01:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T19:01:14","slug":"new-apartments-in-manchester-could-be-cheaper-for-city-centre-retail-workers-in-uk-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/307294\/","title":{"rendered":"New apartments in Manchester could be cheaper for ‘city centre retail workers’ in UK first"},"content":{"rendered":"

The discussions are ongoing – but it would be a UK first it if comes off<\/p>\n

19:38, 31 Jul 2025Updated 19:38, 31 Jul 2025<\/p>\n

(Image: Assembly Studios\/Landsec)<\/p>\n

Manchester city centre retail and hospitality workers could benefit from cheaper flats in a UK-first after hundreds of apartments were approved.<\/p>\n

Behind-the-scenes discussions are ongoing to secure a government grant to make 175 apartments at Mayfield affordable, representing a fifth of the 879 flats given planning permission by Manchester City Council on Thursday (July 31).<\/p>\n

Money from Homes England would go towards building costs, allowing developers Landsec to still turn a profit on the project to build four skyscrapers (two 23 storeys tall, two 28) around Mayfield Park.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to Sam Wheeler, who told a town hall meeting trade unions would be involved in the process to \u2018target\u2019 service industry staff.<\/p>\n

Never miss a story with the MEN’s daily Catch Up newsletter – get it in your inbox by signing up here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had discussions with the developers and we are actively looking at Homes England funding to ensure 20 per cent affordable on-site,\u201d said the Labour<\/a> councillor for Piccadilly. \u201c[It would be] targeted directly at workers in the hospitality and retail sectors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crucial that people who make the city centre run can live here. If we manage to pull it off it would be the first place in the country to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the meeting, the developer confirmed its \u2018intention\u2019 is to make \u201820pc of the first phase of homes affordable housing\u2019, adding it is working to secure aforementioned grants and \u2018ensure that the affordable homes provided by the scheme are prioritised for key workers who provide essential services in Manchester\u2019.<\/p>\n

(Image: Assembly Studios\/Landsec)<\/p>\n

Although Landsec has not included any affordable housing at present, as the project does not meet the 20pc viability threshold required, it will make Mayfield Park 40pc larger with the towers. It\u2019s also contributed to the council\u2019s \u2018housing affordability fund\u2019, used to fund affordable homes in other areas.<\/p>\n

The four towers will be arranged to protect sunlight in the park six-and-a-half acre park, and are set to feature restaurants, caf\u00e9s, health and wellness facilities, and community areas.<\/p>\n

They will join new office blocks which started construction last week. More is planned for the neighbourhood, including a transport hub, and more offices and homes, which could be built on top of the historic Mayfield railway depot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The discussions are ongoing – but it would be a UK first it if comes off 19:38, 31…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,8086,8828,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-307294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-manchester-city-centre","13":"tag-manchester-council","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114949396375156552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}