UK: Billionaire bookmaker Fred Done’s plans for an aparthotel in Manchester’s Shudehill have been replaced by a proposed residential apartment block.
The 13-storey aparthotel project in Shudehill – which was to have been operated by Zoku – was rejected by planners three times for being too big. Done, the founder of bookmaker Bet Fred, has now, through his development company Salboy, has now submitted plans for an even bigger project – a 17-floor block of flats which would also potentially include shop and office space, a cafe, bar, gym or cinema and a small amount of public space.
The first application for the site on the corner of Soap Street was submitted in August 2017. At the time, councillors said it was too tall and told officers to renegotiate its design. After it was brought back repeatedly with minor changes, the plan was finally rejected in February 2018.
The reason for the even bigger scale, according to the planning report, is that the latest version now keeps the old Soap Street warehouse next door – a more expensive proposition that Salboy argues has to be paid for by building upwards on the rest of the site.</p
