St Mary’s Parsonage in Manchester city centre has entered a new public consultation stage, with developer Relentless Developments unveiling plans on 12 November 2026 for two towers containing 434 homes, a 172-room hotel and more than 12,600 square metres of offices. The proposals concern the former Alberton House plot and neighbouring Cardinal House near the River Irwell. This is a consultation ahead of an application, not a grant of planning permission.
The developer’s official St Mary’s consultation website confirms the mix of homes, hotel accommodation and office space, with feedback invited until 1 December. Specialist publication Place North West reported the launch on 12 November, describing towers of 43 and 33 storeys. Relentless hopes to submit a planning application to Manchester City Council before the end of the year.
The St Mary’s Parsonage proposals matter for more than the Manchester skyline. Combining residential development, office floorspace and a hotel on two city-centre sites could change pedestrian access to the waterfront and the setting of nearby heritage buildings. The commercial proposition is substantial, but the precise design, its planning acceptability and delivery remain matters for the forthcoming application and assessment.
What is proposed at St Mary’s Parsonage?
Relentless describes the development as a mixed-use destination between Spinningfields, Parsonage Gardens and the River Irwell. Its consultation material identifies 434 homes, 172 hotel rooms and approximately 12,657 square metres of offices, alongside cafés, shops or other active ground-floor uses. A public route between the buildings would lead towards the river, with further seating, landscaping and pedestrian connections.
Place North West says the 43-storey building would stand on the cleared Alberton House site and contain most of the apartments together with approximately 135,000 square feet of office space. The neighbouring 33-storey tower, at Cardinal House, would accommodate the hotel and further homes. These are the designs now being consulted on, not fixed dimensions in an approved planning decision.
The scheme is being developed by Relentless, the Manchester-based business founded by Gary Neville and Anthony Kilbride. As quoted by Place North West on 12 November, Kilbride said: “We want to create a place that works for the people who live, work and visit here”. Relentless already has other interests in this part of the city, including Reedham House and the Kendal Milne property. The consultation presents these neighbouring interests as an opportunity to coordinate public spaces and movement, although each future site or phase would still require its own appropriate consents.
A fresh stage, rather than a new planning permission
Plans for St Mary’s Parsonage were discussed earlier in the autumn when Place North West reported on 30 October that the developer had lodged a scoping request with Manchester City Council. The material released on 12 November is different in one important respect: the developer has opened public consultation on a more developed design and identified dates for residents and businesses to comment. Earlier preliminary reports should not be mistaken for the final application drawings.
According to Relentless, consultation responses and further technical work will inform the submission it expects to make before the end of 2026. Manchester City Council would then carry out its own statutory consultation and determine the application through the normal planning process. The developer’s suggested spring or summer 2027 decision window is an anticipated timetable, not a promised decision date.
The Alberton House site also has a separate planning history. The developer’s website confirms that an 18-storey office and leisure scheme was approved there in 2022 but construction did not start. That previous permission does not itself establish that the new two-tower proposal has approval. Planning Geek’s guide to planning applications explains the difference between promoting an application and receiving a council decision notice.
Heritage, height and the Manchester skyline
Much of the planning interest in St Mary’s Parsonage will concern how two tall buildings sit alongside older architecture. The developer says the site is outside the St Mary’s Parsonage Conservation Area but near its historic townscape and the listed Century Buildings. Its proposed façade materials take cues from neighbouring buildings and the area’s industrial past, including copper and warm clay tones.
The consultation also refers to Manchester City Council’s St Mary’s Parsonage Strategic Regeneration Framework, adopted in 2020. That framework envisages stronger links to the river, active building frontages and a mix of uses. It provides a strategic context, but does not determine the planning merits of this specific design or remove the need for assessment of heritage, townscape and amenity impacts.
For the St Mary’s Parsonage scheme, the emerging massing uses a podium and two towers with setbacks intended to reduce their visual prominence at street level. The developer says the taller tower is positioned towards the part of the site where surrounding buildings are highest. Whether those choices adequately protect important views and heritage settings will need to be tested against the submitted material and consultation responses.
New route to the river and a car-free proposal
A further practical issue is the relationship between the two buildings and the surrounding streets. The proposed connection from Parsonage towards the River Irwell could improve permeability between Manchester city centre, Trinity Bridge and Salford. The plans also describe planting, lighting, seating and ground-floor activity intended to make the route more useful and attractive throughout the day.
Relentless states that no on-site car parking is proposed. It plans to provide cycle access and storage while managing hotel and residential servicing, deliveries and accessible drop-offs. Those commitments will require supporting Transport Assessment, Travel Plan, servicing and construction documents when an application is made. A city-centre location can reduce dependence on private cars, but does not eliminate the need to address building operations, loading and construction disruption.
The developer has also identified biodiversity and sustainability objectives, including new planting, lower-energy building design and a target of BREEAM Outstanding for the office element. These remain stated project ambitions at consultation stage. They should not be presented as independently tested environmental performance or binding planning conditions.
Commercial significance of St Mary’s Parsonage
Large mixed-use projects can spread demand across several markets, but they can also be more complicated to finance and phase. The St Mary’s Parsonage proposal brings apartments, office accommodation and a sizeable hotel into the same development programme. That may allow investment in shared public realm, but it also means the case for delivery depends on more than securing the residential element of planning permission.
The scheme sits amid substantial change around Spinningfields and the River Irwell. A coordinated redevelopment could improve access to neighbouring commercial buildings, create new employment floorspace and draw further activity to riverside streets. Those would be potential outcomes rather than assured benefits: market conditions, final permissions, construction feasibility and the occupier strategy will all influence what can actually be built.
There is also a clear difference between the proposed floor area and a commitment to start construction. The consultation does not amount to a construction contract, a funded development programme or an issued planning consent. For those following major city-centre regeneration, these stages are worth keeping separate when judging how far a project has really advanced.
How to comment and what happens next
The St Mary’s Parsonage consultation closes on Tuesday 1 December 2026. Relentless has advertised public drop-in sessions at Manchester Hall, Bridge Street, on 17 November from 11.30am to 3pm and 18 November from 3.30pm to 7pm. The consultation website provides the published material and a route for feedback, with a separate council consultation expected once an application is submitted.
The next meaningful planning stage will be the submission and validation of an application, when the full proposals and technical evidence can be examined. Until then, St Mary’s Parsonage remains an ambitious but unapproved regeneration proposal. Its emerging mix of 434 homes, office space and hotel rooms is significant, yet the eventual scope, determination and delivery cannot be taken for granted.
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