Artisan Starts Work on Massive Manchester Project

LONDON-Artisan is on site at Albion Works on Pollard Street in the Ancoats area of Manchester. It expects the first round of construction to take 40 weeks.

To be built in two phases, planning permission was awarded to the company in December 2001 for phase 1 and February 2003 for phase 2. The planning permission includes approval for the development of 400 residential apartments, 60,000 sf of commercial space, 10,000 sf of retail and the introduction of public spaces, including the reinstatement of a former arm of the Ashton Canal as a central water feature.

Demolition company Demrec began work on the site with the demolition of two existing warehouses in the centre of the development. The first phase of the demolition will make way for the conversion of the original mill into high specification office and residential spaces, the construction programme for which is 40 weeks.

The redevelopment has been designed by Artisan’s in-house architect Julien Karczewski and Andrew Wallace Architects.

In a joint venture with Peel Holdings, Artisan plans to develop the 6.5-acre Advent site, located adjacent to Albion Works. Both sites fall into the New East Manchester Regeneration Zone and sit opposite a proposed new Metrolink stop. The Advent scheme will include up to 100,000 sf of office space, approximately 600 residential units, and another 10,000 sf of retail.