iQ Student Accommodation, Manchester

Located in the heart of Manchester’s Whitworth and Echo Street Conservation Area, the project will deliver transformative new student living. The development provides 1,220 high-quality student bedrooms across three slender, elegant towers ranging from 12 to 27-storeys, connected via two architecturally striking link buildings.

This ambitious redevelopment of the former Chandos House Student Halls is set to redefine purpose-built student accommodation in Manchester. We were appointed by Bowmer and Kirkland at Stage 3 to undertake an initial Due Diligence and Peer Review of current design information to identify technical ‘compliance’ and explore opportunities to achieve further value in the civil and structural engineering packages – frame, substructure, below-ground drainage, earthworks.

Our engineering team developed a sophisticated ground engineering strategy, designed to repurpose existing structural elements from a legacy development on the site. The reuse of original piles for cores and columns, along with a contiguous piled retaining wall, forms a crucial part of the sustainability-led construction approach. This innovative reuse not only reduces carbon impact but also demonstrates the project team's commitment to engineering-led urban regeneration.