MMU wanted to replace 1990s halls with modern state-of-the-art towers – why was it so controversial?

It seemed like a great idea: Demolish some ageing 1990s university halls that students dislike and replace them with ‘state-of-the-art’ en-suite bedrooms.

But when Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) announced plans to knock down Cambridge Halls and replace them with 24-storey and 30-storey skyscrapers to add more than 1,500 rooms to the area, in January, it kick-started a row which ultimately rumbled on until the end of summer.

It had solid thinking behind it: Manchester ‘has the lowest student-to-bedroom ratio in the country’, MMU says, and Manchester council has a strategy to encourage students to live in-and-around Oxford Road .

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Data suggests students