In a rare foray outside of its London hunting ground, Mount Anvil has started enabling works on the first phase of the scheme for joint developers Capital & Centric and Henry Boot.

This involves demolition of former Manchester Metropolitan University Aytoun Street Campus buildings on the site.

It will start building work in the Autumn on around 500 private rented flats across two 12 and 16 storey buildings with retail and leisure at ground floor level.

The project also includes refurbishment of the existing 1960s former Aytoun Tower with the addition of a roof village of timber Dutch townhouses.

Plans have also just been submitted for phase two of the project, which will restore two listed former warehouse buildings to their former glory.

The Minto & Turner and Minshull House building will be converted into 59 loft apartments and around 14,000 sq ft of ground floor commercial space opening onto Little David Street.

Adam Brady of Henry Boot Developments, said: “At Kampus we have the opportunity to create something genuinely standout for the city, something completely new. These two buildings – and the reopening of Little David Street – are central to our plans.”