Architect SimpsonHaugh with developer Trilogy Real Estate and Peterson, alongside and main contractor Laing O’Rourke, have submitted a planning application for a comprehensive refurb of Manchester’s Great Northern Warehouse.
The former Great Northern Railway Goods warehouse, which currently provides car parking on the upper three floors with restaurants, shops and a cinema below, will be transformed with 142 luxury flats, and lower commercial space for shops and restaurants.
In phase one, the existing amphitheatre facing Peter Street will be covered over, with a lawn and trees planted on top to make the square more attractive and easier to navigate.
The former Dwell unit on the corner of Peter Street and Deansgate will be demolished, to create Dean Street, a new pedestrian street running parallel to Deansgate, providing units aimed at independent cafés, restaurants and bars.
Phase two covers the warehouse, which will be overhauled to house 130 apartments, a gym, food and beverage, and retail.
Current occupiers at ground floor level of the main warehouse, including All Star Lanes and Home Sweet Home, will all be retained as part of the plans. The existing casino at the warehouse’s first floor will also be retained as part of the plans, with new gym and restaurant uses proposed for vacant areas of the south end of the building.
The car park on the upper three levels of the building will be converted into 130 one and two-bed apartments, situated primarily above the casino and the building’s eastern end. A central atrium, designed as a nod to a Victorian winter garden, is planned for the centre of the warehouse.
Additions made to the building in the 1990s – including car parking ramps and a series of raised walkways – will be demolished, while extensive repairs will be made to the warehouse. These will include re-glazing of all the warehouse’s metal-framed windows; masonry repairs; and complete replacement of the building’s roof covering.
