Design of The Hotspur Press development (Image: handout)
An £80 million regeneration of a crumbling 223 year-old Manchester Victorian mill is on hold – after one anonymous complaint called for the whole empty building to be listed.
Scores of jobs, shops, a piazza and 595 student rooms were set to breathe new life into the city centre area with plans to redevelop the iconic former Victorian printing mill, The Hotspur Press.
Originally built in 1801 on the banks of the River Medlock, it started life as a cotton mill before becoming a printing press in 1888, and more recently an artists’ community until finally boarded up for good in 2017.
Developer Manner won council planning permission earlier this year and hoped to complete the transformation by 2028, fearing the building could be “condemned” if work on the derelict mill does not start soon.
Restoration of the 18th century mill façade and the preservation of the iconic Percy Brothers signage – a local landmark – was also included.
But Historic England have acted on one anonymous protestor to the plans, who wants the building listed, prompting the quango-like non-departmental public body to send a report to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy so her Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) can make a decision on the development’s fate.
Manner says in 2019 a similar request made to Historic England to list The Hotspur Press building was handed in but refused – setting an already established precedent for the structure.
This new ruling will be one of Labour’s first major decisions around their ‘growth agenda’ plans to ease Britain’s housebuilding crisis.
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Artist impression of the proposed development (Image: handout)
Artist impression of the proposed development (Image: handout)
It comes after we revealed earlier this month a proposed green energy estate in Runcorn boasting 545 net-zero houses, shops and leisure facilities is under threat after the Health and Safety Executive claim a nearby chemical works – where the last on-site fatality was actually from a rail crash 78 years ago – was a potential “risk”.
Ex-Labour planning minister Phil Woolas said of The Hotspur Press delays: “It beggars belief that one anonymous complainer can force a much needed regeneration project like this to a halt.
“I would urge Lisa Nandy to use her commonsense and chuck out any recommendation to list.
“I know the area and the building very well. It’s a derelict blight and if this development doesn’t go ahead, the chances are it will be left to rot and then ultimately demolished and nothing will be saved.
“Historic England should look in the mirror and ask if its helping or hindering our national heritage.”
According to their own 2021 report, Historic England say the vacant space from northern England derelict mills is 2.3 million square metres – enough space to accommodate 42,000 new homes or provide 84,000 new jobs.
Since the listing application in September, 822 letters of support for the rejuvenation of The Hotspur Press have been sent.
Supporters of the scheme include Council, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership business-led thinktank, resident groups from the neighbouring Chorlton Mills and Macintosh Village communities, and hundreds of wider Manchester residents.
And a local campaign group Save The Hotspur Press has been set up to fight for the regeneration of the local area.
A spokesman said: “We’re asking Historic England to uphold the 2019 decision not to list the building and make this decision quickly given the current state of the building.
“Rather than preserving the Hotspur Press’s heritage, adding it to the statutory list creates the real risk of the building being condemned given its very poor current condition and the delay and uncertainty in obtaining listed building consent.
“The current proposals bring it back to a viable economic life. Under the plans, public realm improvements and connectivity will be improved; something the local community called upon by supporting the original application.”
It claims ongoing delays would lead to the red brick building to deteriorate even further – with the very real possibility that the building ‘has only one or two winters left in it’.
Contractors were supposed to be on site before the end of this year but those timescales have already been pushed back.
Richard James, managing director, of Manner, said: “We are now at the final stage of this listing process which has already created significant delays to the redevelopment of The Hotspur Press.
“If The Hotspur Press is listed, it will not save it. All it will do is potentially condemn the future of this wonderful building and its history, and have the community lose out on the public realm benefits that they want.”
A spokeswoman for Historic England said: “We can confirm that the case is with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).”
A source at the Department of Media, Culture and Sport said: “A decision will be made in regards to Hotspur Press in Manchester in due course.”