Blaze at Hotspur Press building was declared a ‘major incident’ which lasted nearly five hours
An historic mill building in central Manchester slated for redevelopment as a 37-storey student accommodation tower has been destroyed by fire.
The Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) was called to a major blaze at the Hotspur Press building on Cambridge Street at roughly 4.30pm yesterday afternoon (Monday).
The fire spread to balconies on a neighbouring residential block and the major incident declared by the service was not lifted until 9pm.
Developer Manner has permission to deliver 595 student bedrooms at the former cotton mill and printing press, which dates back to 1801.
Designs for the scheme, drawn up by Hodder & Partners, would have retained the facade and signage of the historic building facing Gloucester Street, with the 595-bed student built behind.
The development has had a complicated planning history. Previous proposals by another developer to build a 28-storey tower stalled five years ago.
Manner then put forward a scheme in December 2023, which would have seen 578 student bedrooms delivered across a 36-storey block.
After a public consultation, it made alterations to the tower’s heights, width and bedroom numbers, with new plans unanimously approved by Manchester City Council last May.
But a further delay followed when an anonymous application was made to list the building. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport considered the bid for a number of months before rejecting it in February of this year.
Manner’s managing director Richard James subsequently criticised the process, saying that it “does not feel right that one anonymous application can lead to eight months of delay and uncertainty”.
Yesterday’s blaze saw more than 20 fire engines attend the scene, as well as two aerial units and more than 100 firefighters.
Two tower blocks at 1 Cambridge Street, where the fire had spread to residential balconies, were completely evacuated.
“Firefighters worked tirelessly to ensure all occupants made it out of the buildings safely and there are no reports of any occupants suffering ill health,” a spokesperson for the fire service said.
“The occupants of one of those blocks have now been able to return home, while the other remains closed as we work with Manchester City Council and the building owner to make the building habitable again.”
Oxford Road station and the railway line have now been re-opened, as have the main roads of Whitworth St and access off the Mancunian Way.
“Crews will be joined by specialist fire officers later this morning to begin investigating the cause of the fire, as well as assessing the extent of the structural damage to the building,” said the GMFRS spokesperson.
The project team for Manner’s scheme also include planning consultant Turley, QS Gardiner & Theobald, heritage architect Stephen Levrant and services engineer Applied Energy.
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