{"id":522722,"date":"2025-10-23T17:38:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T17:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/522722\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T17:38:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T17:38:17","slug":"historic-manchester-tower-to-be-demolished-for-skyscrapers-with-saunas-and-ice-baths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/522722\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Manchester tower to be demolished for skyscrapers with ‘saunas and ice baths’"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a fixture since the 50s<\/p>\n

17:58, 23 Oct 2025Updated 17:58, 23 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

How the flats and offices, set to be built on the site of Albert Bridge House, could look(Image: Oval)<\/p>\n

A historic Manchester tower will be demolished to make way for skyscrapers complete with \u2018saunas and ice baths\u2019 \u2014 but no affordable flats.<\/p>\n

Albert Bridge House, an 18-storey office block which opened in 1959 as one of the city\u2019s tallest buildings, will be knocked down after developers Oval won planning permission from Manchester council to replace it with two skyscrapers, 37 and 49 storeys tall on Thursday (October 23).<\/p>\n

That was despite councillors hitting out at the 800-home project for not containing a single affordable home.<\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News <\/strong>WhatsApp<\/strong> group <\/strong>HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were going to recommit this commercial footprint I would have liked affordable properties,\u201d said Liberal Democrat Coun Richard Kilpatrick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating when we can see some of the amenities like a sauna and ice baths but we cannot deliver affordable [housing].\u201d<\/p>\n

Oval was initially given planning permission for a smaller scheme on the same site, but revised its proposal to include far more affordable units.<\/p>\n

Labour<\/a> Coun Dave Rawson added: \u201cThe other things are great and that\u2019s nice.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we cannot make a contribution to social housing. I am extremely disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before councillors made their comments, Oval\u2019s James Craig said the buildings will bring the city other benefits.<\/p>\n

\"AlbertAlbert Bridge House<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting prospect for Manchester,\u201d he said. \u201cSignificant market changes have necessitated an updated approach. These new plans are more viable and more deliverable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey unlock economic opportunities and improved public realm<\/p>\n

\u201cAn area that\u2019s historically been inaccessible will now see a connection between the city and river. Albert Bridge Square will be a dynamic place that\u2019s alive from morning to evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

The town hall meeting also saw councillors refuse one application, something which rarely happens at the planning committee.<\/p>\n

They rejected a move to allow 258 bedrooms to be used in the summer months at a to-be-constructed student accommodation block on Upper Brook Street.<\/p>\n

An agent for developers McLaren said the firm has \u2018\u00a3100m\u2019 of funding available that is \u2018prohibited by a planning commitment\u2019 which could be released by allowing \u201835pc of bedrooms to be let out of term time\u2019.<\/p>\n

Ardwick residents fought against the 23-storey student block, ultimately seeing the council approving development but restricting its use to limit \u2018disamenity\u2019, Coun Paul Andrews said.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWhy would we amend this for anything other than finance?,\u201d he asked. \u201c\u201cI believe this condition was in place because we accepted the complaints argument on disamenity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would have a break from the disamenity they suffered [out of term time]. I have not seen anything today to ease that disamenity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other applications, such as building 106 homes on Hinchley Road in Charlestown, 66 houses on the former Burnage Cricket Club, allowing more flats to be built next to Mancunian Way at Arundel Street, were approved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s been a fixture since the 50s 17:58, 23 Oct 2025Updated 17:58, 23 Oct 2025 How the flats…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522723,"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-522722","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\/115424704943877866","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522722","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=522722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}