‘Our plan for 10,000 genuinely affordable, social and council homes is building record numbers’
The No 1 Ancoats Green scheme, the first to be built by This City, a property development firm solely owned by Manchester council(Image: Manchester City Council )
More than 1,500 new homes will be built across Manchester by the council, which has promised that more than one-fifth will be ‘genuinely affordable’.
The council has struck a deal with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to finance around 1,600 apartments and houses on brownfield parcels of land. While many of the homes will be available on the open market, at least 20 per cent will be let at the ‘Manchester Living Rent’, set at or below the local housing allowance level.
Seven projects will be built by This City, the council-owned property developer behind No 1 Ancoats Green, a 129-home scheme which opened last year. Council leader Bev Craig called that ‘a great start’, but wants to kick on with construction.
She said: “Our plan for 10,000 genuinely affordable, social and council homes is building record numbers. We built more last year than any year since the early 2000s.
“This partnership with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund will enable us to drive forward the work of This City to build the homes the city needs on council-owned land.
“Completing No.1 Ancoats Green last year was a great start – but this collaboration with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund provides long-term assurance that we can bring forward and deliver even more ambitious schemes.
“We already have a strong pipeline of projects in place, including the next This City development in the Northern Quarter, with further sites across Manchester. This means we are building many more homes capped at the Manchester Living Rent in the coming years .”
Town hall papers have named the seven sites where This City will build. They are Postal Street in the Northern Quarter (126 homes), Monsall Road in Harpurhey (651 homes), Grey Mare Lane in Beswick (145 homes), Hyde Road in Longsight (84 homes), Kirkmanshulme Lane also in Longsight (88 homes), Heyrod Street in Piccadilly (no figure given) and Downing Street in Ardwick (181 homes).
Construction work is expected to start on Postal Street next year, with other sites earmarked to begin in 2028, 2029, or 2030.
The projects are expected to be signed off by a meeting of the council’s executive at 3pm on Friday, March 13.
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