Council ‘expects’ affordable homes at Diecast skyscrapers
The skyscrapers are set to be built on the site of Diecast, on Store Street, according to a strategic regeneration framework
Hundreds of flats in a planned skyscraper district near Piccadilly are ‘expected’ to be ‘affordable’, according to the council.
The skyscrapers are set to be built on the site of Diecast, on Store Street, according to a strategic regeneration framework (SRF) which was sent out for public feedback on Tuesday (July 8).
The council’s blueprint will see the entertainment venue, housed in the former Presbar Diecastings factory, demolished. In its place, eight towers will be built, containing 1,400 new homes, ‘significant’ hotel space, 12,000sqm of workspace, 6,500sqm of retail space, and a permanent home for the Diecast venue.
At a town hall meeting confirming the move, opposition councillors John Leech and Anastasia Wiest pushed Labour chiefs to ensure 284 of the 1,400 homes are ‘affordable’, in line with existing council policy that says developers must make 20pc of their units affordable if the scheme will make at least 20pc profit.
The council’s strategic director of growth, Becca Heron, said the authority’s ‘expectation is 20pc affordable’.
She added: “That is appraised in the planning process. The consideration of affordability will come at the planning stage, but it’s clear the policy expectation is that 20pc will be affordable.”
It will likely take years for final plans confirming the number of affordable units to be made public, as the SRF has yet to be formally adopted. Once it is, a private developer will then need to apply for planning permission to build in line with the council’s vision outlined in the SRF, which allows for a skyscraper up to 50 storeys on Store Street.
It is only at that point when the viability of building affordable units at the site will be assessed independently, effectively confirming if cheaper homes will make their way to the location.
That is the place where an application to build a 50 storey ‘residential tower’ and a 25 storey office and apartment block on the site of the former Stockton’s furniture store finds itself, which is also covered by a broader ‘East Village’ SRF that takes in Diecast.
However developers LFB said in its application all 758 homes are listed for ‘market housing’, so no affordable housing is set to be included.
During the meeting, Labour councillor Gavin White pointed out more affordable housing is being constructed in the area. A project to convert a grade-II listed former showroom into offices and 89 affordable flats, including 31 available for social rent, is set to open on Laystall Street in 2026, next door to Diecast.
Council leader Bev Craig, added the authority’s ‘ambition’ for affordable housing went beyond the 20pc target, telling the meeting it’s ‘more akin to what’s in the 2022 housing strategy where around 30pc of planned new homes are affordable, and we are on track to deliver that’.
Other affordable schemes overseen by the council include This City and Project 500. In January, leaders set the wheels in motion to build 700 affordable homes across Manchester.