Select Property Group’s project in Manchester city centre scooped the Residential High-rise Development UK prize at the 2019/20 UK Property Awards at a prestigious ceremony in central London.
The project forms part of a wider neighbourhood of regeneration located on the former site of Manchester Exchange station.
The Embankment neighbourhood will become the gateway to this newly developed district – with Affinity Living Embankment West as the highly desirable residential development at the very heart of it.
At a cost of £10 million, this is undoubtedly one of the most complex regeneration works undertaken in Manchester city centre in recent years. Carefully balancing the demolition of a historic viaduct, while working alongside an active rail line, presented a series of challenges that dictated many aspects of our construction programme, which was recognised by the judging panel.
Split across two buildings, Exchange Point and Laurence Place, Affinity Living Embankment West will bring 356 high-quality build-to-rent apartments to Manchester.
Affinity Living Embankment West was also recognised for taking inspiration from the site’s heritage, with the two buildings romantically stacked luggage-like across their respective 15 and 17 stories, celebrating a scene that would have once been commonplace on the platforms of Manchester Exchange station.
This approach to fragmenting the buildings is reinforced by using different brick-types for each of the resultant ‘legible parts’. A dark brick on the lower floors matches the height of the viaduct behind, holding the blocks together, with greater detailing here to respond to the human scale and street level.
Both buildings’ names also take inspiration from two iconic Manchester landmarks and icons, namely Exchange station and artist Laurence Stephen (L.S.) Lowry, a nod to his 1925 drawing depicting the ‘Flat Iron Market’ which once stood on Chapel Street.
The result is two residential buildings that will be readily identifiable as distinctive to the site and will create a genuine sense of place.
Scheduled for completion in Q4 2020, Affinity Living Embankment West will become an in-demand residence among Manchester’s rising number of young, professional tenants.
Click here to find out more about Affinity Living Embankment West.
“We’re absolutely delighted that Affinity Living Embankment West has won this award. It’s testament to the hard work and dedication from everybody at Select Property Group and our wider company, from those that sourced the land and have been instrumental in the construction, through to those in our marketing and creative teams that have given the project its unique identity.
I’m incredibly confident that Affinity Living Embankment West will be hugely popular for those aspirational city centre tenants looking to live in a prime location with the finest living spaces and facilities. It will become our third Affinity Living project in Manchester, helping to set new standards in rental living in a city with a significant undersupply of high-quality purpose-built rental property.”
Adam Price – Managing Director, Select Property Group
About the UK Property Awards.
The UK Property Awards are judged by an independent panel of over 80 industry experts. Judging focuses on design, quality, service, innovation, originality, and commitment to sustainability.
The judging panel is chaired by Lord Caithness, Lord Best, The Earl of Liverpool, and Lord Thurso, members of the House of Lords in the UK Parliament.
The UK Property Awards are the largest, most prestigious, and widely recognised programme throughout the regions. The Awards are in their 26th year and cover over 45 different residential and commercial categories. Regional heats are staged for Arabia, Europe, Africa, Canada, Central & South America, the Caribbean, USA, UK and Asia Pacific.
The official Awards website is www.propertyawards.net