GRAHAM has secured the final Gateway 2 approvals for the £530m (€620m) Fallowfield Campus redevelopment in Manchester, clearing all 29 blocks for construction and showing how early engagement with the Building Safety Regulator can keep a major higher-risk scheme on programme.

GRAHAM, headquartered in Hillsborough, County Down, is a privately owned construction and investment group delivering Fallowfield as both contractor and investor.

The 50-year partnership also includes the University of Manchester, the project client; Equitix, a UK infrastructure and student accommodation investor; and Rothesay, the specialist pensions insurer providing majority funding.

Techrete, a precast cladding specialist with factories in Balbriggan and North Lincolnshire, is producing around 4,150 low-carbon façade panels.

The Building Safety Regulator, which administers the higher-risk building regime in England, must grant Gateway 2 approval before construction can start.

The approvals cover seven higher-risk blocks and 22 lower-rise buildings, with the first 1,000 rooms opening in 2028, completion by 2030, and operational energy use expected to be around 50% below a conventional scheme.

Graham Investment Projects Strategic Development Director Neil McFarlane said an early, proactive approach to design and fire safety, including a first application made several months before planning approval, was central to the outcome.

The scheme is valued at £530m (€620m) under a 50-year partnership with Rothesay providing majority funding.

Osborne Clarke and Operis advised the Equitix and GRAHAM joint venture, while Ashurst Perkins Coie and AECOM advised Rothesay.

Early engagement with the regulator is becoming a programme-critical skill on higher-risk schemes, and Fallowfield shows it can pay off even across 29 blocks.

The regulator's innovation unit has cut median approval times for new higher-risk buildings from 43 weeks to 22 weeks, with the approval rate rising from 39% to 92%, although the statutory period for new buildings remains 12 weeks.

Fallowfield also leans on modern methods of construction, with precast façade panels manufactured offsite in Ireland and England, which moves quality control into the factory and compresses on-site programme risk.

For the sector, a major scheme clearing Gateway 2 in full, funded by a pension insurer on a 50-year partnership, shows long-term capital will back large higher-risk residential projects where design and fire safety strategy are settled early.

Source: Construction Enquirer / Housing Today