Buying in the UKIt's a long way from Corry Street style to the smart apartments that West Properties' Donal Mulryan is building in Manchester. Fiona Tyrrellreports

IRISH developer Donal Mulryan is showing the real meaning of service at his swanky apartment schemes in Manchester where his company West Properties designs, builds, sells, lets and manages all its developments.

Established under five years ago, West Properties has been cutting quite a dash in Manchester with smart residential schemes featuring luxury fit-outs, edgy designs and superb facilities.

With two sites complete and four more on the go in Manchester, West is playing no small part in the city's bid to shed its downtrodden post-industrial image through ambitious urban regeneration.

After 15 years working with his brother Seán in Ballymore, Donal left to set up on his own. "I had a burning ambition to do my own thing and never made any secret of it at Ballymore."

He gave two years' notice and set up West Properties in 2002. With two highly successful residential schemes in Manchester under his belt, Mulryan is now branching out into other cities.

The company has just secured its first site in London, where a £400 million (€556 million) office and residential scheme is planned for a Thames-side site in Greenwich. It has also unveiled plans for two sites under development in Leeds.

Unusually, West Properties retains a large stake in all the developments it builds. Of the 400 apartments West has built to date, 200 have been retained by the developer. This is a model the company intends to continue. By retaining stock, the company ensures that the highest standards of building and services are maintained, according to Mulryan.

"Investors like to know we are in for the long haul."

With plans to hold onto so much stock, the idea of furnishing, letting and managing the units for investors was a natural step, says Mulryan. "I was going to have to do it myself anyway."

Another striking aspect of West's schemes is the classy finish and extra facilities laid on for residents. All of its developments feature a gym and health suite.

Providing quality accommodation with lots of extras is a sure way of ensuring high occupancy rates in a city which has an oversupply of poor housing stock.

So far this has not been a problem for West. Its first Manchester scheme, the stylish 138-unit Lumiere development in the city centre, was fully occupied within three months of completion.

Its second scheme, Skyline Central, raised the bar for residential developments in the city. Facilities offered at the 248-unit scheme include a 20m swimming pool located on the top floor, a gym, hot tub, health spa and ground floor Zen garden.

Catering to all lifestyle needs Skyline Centre offers the type of concierge services found at five-star hotels, ranging from beauty treatments in your bedroom to party planning services. All residents have free bed-dressing, refuse collection, shoe shining, laundry collection and reservation services.

With such lifestyle packages designed to cater for the needs of hip young urbanites, it's no surprise to hear that the average age of tenants in West's two completed schemes is 26.

Investors are happy too. Rents at the schemes are around £750-£850 (€1,042-€1,181) for a one-bedroom apartment, placing the schemes firmly in the top end of the market.

Investors at the company's two completed schemes in Manchester are currently getting yields of between 5 and 5.5 per cent. Capital appreciation has been in the region of 15-20 per cent, he says.

Around 75 per cent of investors in the schemes are Irish and over half of the investors who were involved in West's inaugural scheme bought again in its second scheme in Manchester.

"The Irish have a good understanding of property."

Mulryan first came to Manchester four years ago and has found the city "very pro-development".

Work has just begun on West Properties' first mixed-use scheme. The Origin building, in the heart of the Village area of Manchester and directly across from West's Manchester office, is designed by local architect Ian Simpson, the man behind the luxury 1 Deansgate apartment building and the Urbis museum - both on the site of the IRA blast in 1996.

The £150 million (€208 million) scheme will incorporate 180 luxury rental apartments with health and leisure facilities, an office block and a 210-bedroom five-star hotel.

Even more ambitious is West's plans for Owen Street located off Deansgate, the main artery in Manchester and close to the 48-storey Beetham tower.

The £450 million (€625 million) scheme forms part of a larger regeneration plan for the area and it will include around 1,200 apartments, a 200-bedroom hotel, tennis courts, swimming pools, running track and retail and office space.

West will be going to the market with this scheme in the middle of next year.

Ian Simpson is again working on the waterside scheme and has devised a space age plan incorporating lots of glass, buildings on stilts, glass pods for small cafés and shops and podium level grassy walkways.

Two other schemes are on the cards for Manchester, including an overhaul of the unsightly Ramada Hotel, also in the Deansgate area. Sites in Leeds and London will again be mixed-use.

And Dublin? "I'd love to bring our product to Dublin, it is one of my ambitions, but land values are extremely high. "