Work set to start this summer

Laing O’Rourke has won the job to build footballer Gary Neville’s £200m mixed-use tower in Manchester.

Known as St Michael’s, the scheme will include a 40-storey tower containing a five star hotel of 191 bedrooms and a further 181 high-end apartments.

Located near St Peter’s Square, it will provide 163,000 sq ft of office space, 23,000 sq ft of leisure space and another hotel within the former Bootle Street police station, which will keep its original Portland stone façade.

Built in 1937, the police station was the city’s police headquarters for nearly 80 years before being snapped up by the development business of Neville and former Manchester United team mate Ryan Giggs when it closed in 2014.

The St Michael’s scheme has been mired in controversy with heritage groups including the Twentieth Century Society and Historic England criticising previous plans drawn up by Make which were dropped in 2017.

Local practice Hodder + Partners was drafted in with its scheme winning approval the following year.

As well as the police station façade, Hodder’s scheme also retains 19th-century pub the Sir Ralph Abercromby, which the Make scheme would have demolished.

Work is due to start at the end of this summer.

St Michael's by Hodder & Partners - November 2017 incarnation

How the scheme will look when completed