{"id":404596,"date":"2025-09-07T06:40:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T06:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/404596\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T06:40:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T06:40:16","slug":"the-cut-price-city-centre-flats-wanted-by-19976-mancs-where-theres-space-for-a-walk-in-wardrobe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/404596\/","title":{"rendered":"The cut-price city centre flats wanted by 19,976 Mancs where there’s space for a walk-in wardrobe"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the first things Bev Craig did as council leader was to up affordable housing targets. Nearly four years on, Ethan Davies reports on the effects of that decision(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n

In June, 19,976 people were waiting for a council house in Manchester. In July 2023, there were 15,958 waiting.<\/p>\n

In those two years, thousands of new homes were built in the city centre, often for sale or rent at prices people searching for a council house cannot afford.<\/p>\n

Although councillors require developers to make 20pc of any new housing project \u2018affordable\u2019 if they will make a 20pc profit \u2014 a threshold set nationally by the government \u2014 few developers meet that margin, according to independently-conducted \u2018viability assessments\u2019 used to decide if affordable units should be included.<\/p>\n

To see planning applications; traffic and road diversions and layout changes; and more, visit the Public Notices Portal HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

But in the last few months, something new is happening with housing in town.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a trend which began in 2022, when then-new council leader Bev Craig changed the housing strategy to build 10,000 \u2018genuinely affordable\u2019 homes in a decade.<\/p>\n

Immediately after that, more and more affordable projects secured grant funding to get building off the ground \u2014 and the city centre is now seeing the benefits.<\/p>\n

These projects are typically smaller than the skyscrapers which now define Manchester. But that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not as iconic.<\/p>\n

Ancoats Dispensary, a converted Victorian hospital home to 39 affordable apartments on Old Mill Street, is one such affordable development.<\/p>\n

(Image: Sharon Davies)<\/p>\n

The funky-shaped houses of nearby Islington Square are another. Both are managed by Great Places, a Didsbury-based housing association which manages more than 300 homes across New Islington and Ancoats.<\/p>\n

And after winning \u00a37.6m of Homes England and GMCA grants, Great Places is building around another icon which the Local Democracy Reporting Service toured last week (August 20).<\/p>\n

On Pigeon Street, just inside the Northern Quarter<\/a> next to Diecast and the Great Ancoats Street Aldi, it\u2019s constructing 89 affordable flats around the grade II-listed Armitage showroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s called Dovecote House because it\u2019s based on Pigeon Street. We did not want to call it Pigeoncote,\u201d joked Paul Taylor, Great Places\u2019 development programme manager.<\/p>\n

(Image: OMI architects for McCauls via planning documents)<\/p>\n

Some 31 flats will be available to rent at \u2018social\u2019 prices, and 58 will be made available through the rent-to-buy scheme, when they open next summer.<\/p>\n

Tenants will lack amenities modern \u2018luxury\u2019 developments have, like gyms, pools, a car park, or a concierge. But there\u2019s a garden, bicycle storage, room for an office nook or walk-in wardrobe, terraces for a few flats and juliette balconies for others.<\/p>\n

And the selling point of Dovecote House is that one- and two-bedroom apartments, available at no more than 80pc of the market rent, are large.<\/p>\n

(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would not do anything below 45 m\u00b2 for a one bed,\u201d explained Nick Gornall, director of development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not for us. We are long-term asset holders, so we want to keep customers in and avoid tenancy turnover. A good size unit is key to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our two beds, we want them to be able to have four people in. A couple could outgrow it quickly with children, so having a good size second bedroom is really important. Our minimum [for a two-bed] is 57 m\u00b2, average for two-bed here is 62 m\u00b2.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want people to come and stay. We do not want people to come for a couple of years and go. Having that churn means people will not stay and will not build a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n

Dovecote House, Ancoats Dispensary, and the \u00a319.4m, 75-flat Downley Drive project show Great Places\u2019 commitment to building affordable homes in the city centre.<\/p>\n

The council has put its money where its mouth is on the matter, using wholly-owned subsidiary This City company to construct 129 homes at No. 1 Ancoats Green, 30pc of which are available for rent at Manchester housing allowance rates. It also has plans for a similar-size project on Postal Street in the Northern Quarter.<\/p>\n

All of this comes as the town hall updates its local plan for the first time in 13 years.<\/p>\n

Campaigners have called for every development to include 30pc affordable housing, which was confirmed earlier this week.<\/p>\n

Should affordable housing targets increase, it could be a win for campaigners and could help ease pressure on Manchester\u2019s housing waiting list \u2014 but only if the blueprint actually leads to affordable construction on-the-ground, a problem which hampered its current local plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the first things Bev Craig did as council leader was to up affordable housing targets. Nearly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,8086,8828,29712,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-404596","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-manchester-development","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115161649984572192","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404596","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=404596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}