MMU Didsbury campus makes way for residential homes

Manchester Metropolitan University has put forward plans to sell off its Didsbury campus and make way for a new Council led development which will include a primary school and executive housing.

The 17 acre estate includes one Grade II listed property and a number of Grade II listed buildings. Although, these will not be touched and the focus will be on new homes in the area and the preservation on a historic playing field which also resides on the campus.

A report is being put forward to the City Council Executive, which if approved will allow a public consultation in the Autumn.

This joint venture between MMU and Manchester City Council is part of the City Councils residential growth prospectus. This sets out the city’s requirement for housing of mixed cost, size and tenure in areas all around the city.

Expanding residential homes in the area will also, within time, increase the demand for school places in the Didsbury area. Which is why prospectus plans have also been put forward to build a primary school on the site.

Cllr Richard Leese, Leader of the Manchester City Council, said, “Manchester’s success means we desperately need thousands of new homes of every type and size and we are working with a variety of partners to develop suitable sites across the city”.

Professor John Brooks, Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University said: “Our move to new facilities at Birley Fields in Hulme in September 2014 brings down the curtain on our long-association with Didsbury but opens up new opportunities for the city and the community in the shape of this draft framework.”

It can be seen that the Council and MMU have been working effectively together to help free up assets of the University which will benefit both parties in the relationship, whilst always working towards the residential growth prospectus of the city.