Russell WBHO appointed to build its third Manchester city centre Motel One together with its first project for Staycity Aparthotels, delivering a total 584 new rooms.
Having successfully completed Manchester’s two existing Motel One hotels, Russell WBHO was pleased to be appointed to the construction of the brand’s third presence at the hybrid 3 St Peter’s Square development.
Developer Property Alliance Group also secured Staycity Aparthotels for the upper part of the 20-storey building, which is funded by Royal London Asset Management, which will operate the site under its premium Wilde Aparthotel brand.
Motel One occupies the first eight floors with 328 hotel rooms while Staycity has floors 9 to 20, providing 256 studios and one- bedroom units. The Motel One entrance opens up into Dickinson Street and St Peter’s Square, while the Staycity reception opens up into Back George Street and Dickinson Street.
Russell WBHO undertook a complex demolition of the vacant Peterloo House to clear the site in a way designed to mitigate disruption to the surrounding area, which is packed with offices, apartments and a number of neighbouring developments.
This involved temporary closure of three roads and installation of a full scaffold wrap to provide protection from dust and debris. Between 80 and 90 per cent of the old building was diverted from landfill, with much of the concrete and brick crushed for use as fill for the foundations of the new construction.
Designed by Stephenson Studio, with Leach Rhodes Walker as delivery architect, the building is finished in a decorative pre-cast concrete façade, similar in tone to the neighbouring One and Two St Peters Square and designed to be sympathetic to its location close to the landmarks of Manchester Town Hall and Central Library.
The precast panels were craned into place via the 78m tower located at the centre of the build and removed in a precision operation. Extensive collaborative preparatory works prior to the M&E installation saw modular units to the concrete suppliers for precast fixing.
An example of the Russell WBHO collaborative model, the team has been instrumental member in the development of this scheme from concept and through planning to construction, keeping buildability and viability to achieve tight budget at the forefront.
