Gary Neville: Work begins on delayed £200m Manchester towers

Plans for the site were originally unveiled in 2016 before a series of setbacks

Work on the first phase of former Manchester United star Gary Neville's much-delayed £200m city centre development has finally begun.

The ex-footballer's plans will see two towers built in Manchester housing flats, offices and leisure facilities.

The city council's licensing committee was told construction of the first nine-storey block, which will have a rooftop bar, had just started.

It has not been revealed when work on the second 41-storey block will begin.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the council granted a licence for the bar, which is due to open in 2024 providing the outdoor terrace would be closed from 23:00 every night.

Speaking on behalf of Neville's St Michaels UK Propco Ltd firm, Felicity Tullock told a meeting a "high-end, internationally recognised and renowned" operator had been lined up to run the premises.

She said the bar would be "in keeping with the high quality of this scheme" and the development on Jackson's Row, close to Manchester Town Hall, as a whole.

Plans for the scheme were redrawn to incorporate the historic Sir Ralph Abercromby pub after protests

The scheme was finally approved in 2018 after the original plans sparked a huge backlash.

The proposals were radically redrawn after Historic England strongly criticised them, warning the development would cause a "high level of harm" to the town hall.

The first phase will see the former Bootle Street police headquarters and the Sir Ralph Abercromby, a pub built in 1780, refurbished and incorporated into the development.

In July 2021, Manchester Reform Synagogue's membership agreed to sell the building on Jackson's Row to the developers for £15m, allowing the scheme to go ahead.

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