Judge rejects challenge to 55-storey Manchester student block

A court has thrown out an attempted legal challenge to plans to build a high-rise student accommodation block in central Manchester.

In June 2021 Manchester City Council approved plans submitted by GMS Parking to build a 55-storey tower known as Great Marlborough Street on the corner of that road and Hulme Street, on the site of an existing multi-storey car park.

The approval came despite the plans receiving hundreds of objections. At time time, Manchester councillor William Jeavons referred to a “tsunami of popular support” against the proposed building, which he described as a “cheese grater-esque … tombstone with dull gable ends”.

The planned “slender tower”, designed by Glen Howells Architects, would include 853 student rooms and 786 square metres of workspace for small and medium sized businesses. According to reports, Laing O’Rourke is lined up to build the block, which has an estimated construction cost of £130m.

To make room for it, GMS plans to reduce the size of the car park, where some residents of a nearby development called Macintosh Village have rights to park. The number of spaces is set to fall from 391 to 101.

Macintosh Village Management Ltd (MVML), which represents nearly 500 residents, applied for a judicial review of the council’s decision to grant permission.

The application highlighted six issues for the judge to consider. These included whether council officers “seriously misled” or misdirected the planning committee about how long access to the car park would be restricted during construction, and on whether residents’ private parking rights were a “material planning consideration” that they could seek an injunction to protect.

Other issues concerned disabled car park users and possible health risks to users during construction. In addition, the judge was asked to consider whether the council had carried out “lawful consultation” on changes made to the project’s environmental statement, plus another issue relating to consulting on these changes.

Judge Mr Justice Fordham found in favour of the council on all six issues, and dismissed the application. MVML has agreed to pay £10,000 towards the local authority’s legal costs.

Fordham also refused an application by MVML’s lawyer to appeal on the injunction issue, saying this did “not have a real prospect of success”.

Laing O’Rourke declined to comment.