Architect increases profile by winning 74 ha masterplan for 3000 home pathfinder scheme

Architect Terry Farrell and Partners has widened its presence in Manchester by securing a 74 ha masterplan for part of a housing market renewal pathfinder.

The scheme is in Lower Broughton, Salford, in one of nine areas in the north of England where the government is trying to revitalise the housing market. It is on a similar scale to the masterplan Farrell designed for the Greenwich Peninsula in south-east London.

The area is two miles from Manchester city centre but has had problems with rundown housing. Salford council estimates that 3000 houses can be built on the site; the team is now assessing how many will be renovated and how many will be new-build.

Farrell declined to comment but it is understood that the firm is working with the council and the community to establish what they want to have.

As in other pathfinder schemes, the Farrell masterplan will work out a way to reinvigorate an area where houses have fallen in value and residents have to deal with absentee landlords and crime.

The site is part of a larger area that includes Higher Broughton, which is being redeveloped separately using an EDAW masterplan. The consortium in this scheme includes City Spirit Regeneration, Bovis Lendlease and the Royal Bank of Scotland. It has been given planning permission.

It is on a similar scale to Farrell's Greenwich masterplan

The regeneration of Lower and Higher Broughton could cost more than 拢200m.

The council estimates that a masterplan will be delivered by December. Construction is expected to start in September next year.

The housing market renewal pathfinder projects had their budgets increased from 拢150m this year to 拢450m by 2008 in chancellor Gordon Brown鈥檚 Comprehensive Spending Review last month.

Farrell and Partners is also involved in Manchester鈥檚 Southern Gateway and a plan to link Manchester University and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

  • Architect Feilden Clegg Bradley is working up a 拢400m regeneration masterplan for Salford council. It covers the Irwell riverfront opposite Manchester city centre and the cathedral. It is due for submission in September.
  • Five design teams have been shortlisted for the second stage of a competition to regenerate central Salford.

The five consortiums are led by Alsop Architects, Arup Consulting, Locum Destination Consulting and Dutch firms KCAP and S333 Architecture + Urbanism.