‘Manchester’s Restoration Man’ acquires derelict city centre property for £3.5m

A derelict building in the centre of Manchester has been acquired by Beech Holdings for £3.5m.

The Manchester-based property developer will now work on transforming Salisbury House, a 24,000 sq ft building on Granby Row, into around 90 ‘carbon neutral’ homes.

Once occupied by Transport for Greater Manchester and, before that, Manchester City Council, Salisbury House has been empty and neglected for over five years.

Beech Holdings’ owner, Stephen Beech, said he believes the building has become an eyesore but is now looking forward to breathing new life into the property.

All of the apartments at Salisbury House are already pre-let to young professionals, many of whom will be graduating from Manchester’s universities later this year.

Stephen, dubbed ‘Manchester’s Restoration Man’, said: “Buying this building is a big result for Beech.

“We’ve wanted to buy Salisbury House for a while and it has happened after three hard weeks of negotiations, which means we can bring it back to life.”

Beech has now secured planning consent for external alterations, including new windows and cladding along with façade replacements. Further, the building has permitted development rights, which means Beech’s 80-strong team can get to work without having to seek planning permission.

Stephen, who owns £65m worth of residential housing stock across Greater Manchester, including 16 properties in central Manchester, commented: “We own 90 Princess Street, Fifth Avenue nightclub and now Salisbury House which all neighbour each other.

“It’s worked out well, as when we marketed 90 Princess Street it was massively oversubscribed with people wanting to rent our apartments there.”

He continued: “We kept those people on our database and they have already made their move to ensure they have a home in Salisbury House. It’s fantastic, as it’s fully let already.”

“People will be living there within a year, which shows how quickly we work.”

The apartments at Salisbury House will achieve carbon neutral status using heat pumps and heat recovery systems.

Speaking further, Stephen said: “We are excited to have bought this building. The demand for housing in Manchester is very high at the moment. Students want to stay here after graduating and enjoy a good start to their professional careers in high-end city centre apartments which is what Salisbury House will offer.

“This will also help push along Manchester council’s plan of building 25k homes over the next decade.”

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