A former Jobcentre Plus in Longsight will be converted into an apartment building with 46 ‘high quality’ flats for rent.
Prominent build-to-rent developer Placefirst wants to ‘revitalise’ the vacant Clarence Road site by offering residential development.
Under plans approved by Manchester council, much of the three-storey building will remain intact but the entrance lobby would be demolished.
The 32,000 sq ft offices would be transformed, with planning documents suggesting each apartment will have an open plan living room and kitchen, a bathroom and a double bedroom.
The vehicle access point from Clarence Road will remain, along with the existing car park.
In a letter to the council, the developers said: “Placefirst is an award-winning regeneration company providing quality rental homes for those who are reliant on the private rented sector for their housing needs.
“We pride ourselves in genuine placemaking and transforming neighbourhoods.
“Placefirst has a long-term plan to revitalise the site through high quality residential development.
“These applications represent stage one of the strategy and a further planning application will follow once the principle of residential development has been established for any further works which require planning permission.”
Jobcentre closed their Longsight offices in August 2018 to merge with their Rusholme centre.
Research commissioned by Placefirst suggests there will be 249 fewer trips made by vehicles in and out of the site than there was when it was occupied.
In their decision notice, Manchester council planning officers said they were satisfied that the development ‘minimises the impact’ on local roads and that there were no known contamination or flooding risks
