Manchester-based 5plus Architects is set to reveal major plans for a 244-acre Salford University and city centre masterplan ahead of further announcements at the MIPIM international property show later this month.
A vast area in the centre of Salford, spanning the Crescent and University areas, is set to undergo major redevelopment as the city targets strategic growth in a bid to create a district to rival Manchester‘s Northern Quarter. The plan involves 225 buildings, 25 hectares of open space, 20,000 students, 166,250 square metres of academic property, 1,367 on-campus student beds and 1,820 committed residential units.
Adjacent to where the scheme is set to take place is the Chapel Street and New Bailey regeneration area, which has almost completed a 12-year £650m investment programme of transformation. The English Cities Fund, in a joint venture with Muse Developments, Homes England and Legal & General, was named Public/Private Partnership of the Year at the North West Residential Property Awards this month, for its Salford Central regeneration masterplan.
New cultural quarter
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said of the development: “We want this to be a cultural quarter, and we are masterplanning this now. It could absolutely be the place that those priced out of Manchester’s Northern Quarter come to, and we have to make sure placemaking there is not driven by a simple return-on-investment agenda, which we’ve seen too much of.”
Manchester-based 5plus Architects won the bid for the Salford University masterplan in June last year, and the proposals are set to be revealed in the Manchester at MIPIM pavilion at the property show in Cannes next month.
On its website, 5plus says: “The ambition is to create a high quality knowledge district driven by enterprise, innovation, research and creativity with the intention of improving graduate retention and encouraging inward investment. Good urban design and placemaking is referenced to create a place that is diverse, well connected and ‘green’ that also provides residential, employment and arts and cultural opportunities for this hugely significant part of Salford.”
