UK: PBSA provider iQ Student Accommodation has been granted planning permission by Manchester City Council for its Echo Street scheme.
The scheme will deliver 1,224 rooms – a mix of studios and en-suite student clusters, with common areas on the ground floor, including two separate courtyards.
The 38,350 square metre project – located on the edge of the Whitworth Street conservation area, next to the North Campus of the University of Manchester – is characterised by a series of slim vertical blocks.
These are “stepped to respect and mediate between the smaller scale buildings around Vimto Park” to the west of the site, and the more urban context to the east and south. The three main blocks are made up of red brick, with metalwork in anodised bronze aluminium.
Rupert Goddard, partner at architects Sheppard Robson, said: “Echo Street is an important contribution to the PBSA ecosystem of Manchester, which significantly contributes to the wider urban fabric. An important marker visible from Piccadilly Station, the scheme links the historic mercantile foundations of the city with its present, as a dynamic knowledge and innovation-led destination. The design creates a confident silhouette on Manchester’s ever-evolving skyline while being rooted in the materiality of the Whitworth Street conservation area.”
