Square Gardens provides 1,990 co‑living bedroom spaces across the Acer and The Fernley buildings within a key area of regeneration close to the city centre. The final building - Building C - will also add 555 student beds to this new community. The project also creates a new public green space, benefitting the wider First Street community.
Co-living aims to simplify and improve the residents experience of living in the city centre by providing a quality place to live that is not only affordable and convenient but also provides a platform for residents to network and build personal friendships within the new Square Gardens community.
The co-living provision is spread across 3 of the 4 buildings. Buildings A and B step in height from 10 to 26 storeys and together form Acer. The Fernley rises to 45 storeys and is the tallest within the development. Collectively the co-living buildings feature over 11 different accommodation types that range from the traditional 1- and 2-bedroom apartments, meeting nationally prescribed space standards to 18 sq. m space saving studio apartments with en-suite.
Square Gardens features high-quality amenities to complement the co-living provision, totalling 2,700 sq. m and includes extensive co-working and meeting facilities, residents’ social lounges and entertainment spaces, private dining, gyms, media and cinema room, as well as 9,900 sq. m of outdoor space, consisting of gardens and external terraces to maximise access to green spaces.
Building C of the scheme is a 28-storey dedicated student accommodation building. Alongside the 555 student beds, Building C also houses amenity spaces including private dining areas, techno gym, media room and social spaces, designed to offer students a range of communal areas to promote health, wellbeing and community throughout the building.
Acer is arranged in a linear formation edging the North, East and South sides of the site, whereas The Fernley and Building C are free in form and both sit as an object in the landscape. This helps to define and reinforce the streetscape, and the reinstatement of Newcastle Street provides a direct link from First Street to Hulme and the universities beyond the Mancunian Way.
All four buildings are constructed from a unitized glazing system with a bespoke frit patternation and anodized metal rapid vents. The light-coloured horizontal frit accentuates the stepping form of Acer. In contrast, a dark blue frit and metal is used on the outer facing facades of Building C and West Façade of The Fernley to accentuate the form of the buildings and emphasise the slender nature of the two towers.
The four accommodation buildings are set over a large, greened landscape wedge, which enhances both the visual amenity and views to and from the scheme. The wedge is folded to respond to thoroughfares and to create multiple terraces at varying levels. The scheme incorporates 9,900 sq. m of new landscape of which 5,800 sq. m is accessible to the general public along with the addition of over 140 new trees. It is hoped this will boost biodiversity, improve air quality and aid in the mental health of not only the direct inhabitants but the wider community of First Street.