The developer behind plans for more than 15,000 homes in north Manchester is now set to redevelop the former Greater Manchester Police (GMP) headquarters in Trafford too.

Chester House is at the centre of plans for 750 new homes, a hotel, offices and shops.

The Far East Consortium (FEC), which is working with Manchester City Council on the Victoria North project, has been chosen to develop the Chester Road site.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, the consortium beat Cityheart, which is redeveloping the Galleries shopping centre in Wigan and building Stockport’s transport interchange, and Manchester-based developer Muse to the contract.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), which owns the former police headquarters site, concluded the procurement process last week and revealed on Tuesday, August 8 that its preferred development partner is FEC.

Trafford Council agreed to sign a deal with the GMCA to bring forward the development in late 2021.

The GMCA agreed to invest £642,500 into the scheme to appoint a development partner and apply for planning permission.

The scheme is part of Trafford Council’s Civic Quarter Area Action Plan, which covers the area from the Old Trafford football ground to Trafford Town Hall with 750 homes, shops, offices and community facilities planned on. Around a quarter of the new homes to be built are expected to be "affordable housing".

Last summer, companies were invited to bid for the contract with the aim of appointing a developer by the end of 2022.

FEC was chosen as the preferred tenderer earlier this month, with their bid described as "of a high standard".

The decision notice notes that the firm’s funding proposal did not rely on grant funding and that the company could demonstrate a "significant balance sheet".

In contrast, Cityheart, which put forward plans for a low carbon development, would have relied on grant funding to deliver the scheme, affecting its score.

Muse scored the lowest of the three shortlisted developers because its bid was "heavily reliant" on grant funding.

Best and final offers were received by all the firms by the end of May and the three bids were evaluated two weeks later.

FEC’s Victoria North scheme is expected to deliver 15,000 homes over the next 15 years. The company has already started developing some of the land north of Victoria train station which stretches all the way up to Collyhurst.

The Chester Road site was formerly GMP’s headquarters before the police force moved 11 years ago to a purpose-built new facility in Newton Heath. 

FEC declined to comment on the decision which is yet to be formally signed off.

A spokesperson for Trafford Council and GMCA said: “We are unable to comment on the procurement processes while we are in the standstill period.”

Planning applications for this site are yet to come forward.