Manchester City Council approves two major projects that DFC is currently working on at First Street and a nearby site. These are: One Medlock Street, and House of Social. We have been working closely with our clients and the design teams to provide Fire Engineering expertise to support their planning applications.

One Medlock Street, Manchester

Whitbread, owner of the Premier Inn hotel chain, together with Dominus Real Estate have secured planning consent from Manchester City Council for their part-37-storey / 1,000-bed accommodation-led development in the city centre, which also includes a part-13-storey / 387,500 sq ft of office space. While the scheme requires the demolition of an existing Premier Inn hotel, the planning report said redevelopment would help Manchester reach a 2038 Net Zero target through energy efficiency savings.

The scheme has been designed by Jon Matthews Architects, who have delivered numerous transformative regeneration projects in Manchester – including Oxygen and Renaissance, who DFC has been working with on numerous projects in Manchester.

House of Social, Manchester

This 14-storey / 576-bed student accommodation-led development, will contain a mix of 76 six-bed clusters and 24 five-bed clusters. The proposal also includes a provision for 86 affordable rooms and 24 studios designed to be accessible for residents with additional needs, as well as 14,000 sq ft of commercial space / large food hall on the ground floor. Vita Group describes House of Social as “the student house re-imagined”, with the development designed for students in their second or third year who have established friendship groups. House of Social is being progressed alongside Ask Real Estate’s plans for a 300,000 sq ft net zero office on an adjacent plot that DFC is also working on. DFC has a longstanding relationship with Vita providing fire safety services across many projects.

Together these two developments will see the near completion of First Street Central regeneration where DFC has been involved on numerous buildings at First Street since 2010.

Featured images: Left: House of Social ©VitaGroup. Right: One Medlock Street, Manchester ©JonMatthewsArchitects