£75m No1 Castlefield is latest DeTrafford scheme to collapse  

The vehicle behind the 420-home Manchester scheme has been placed into administrators’ hands without a single brick being laid, leaving investors in the lurch.

Planning permission for No1 Castlefield was granted in November 2017, but almost six years on, the site remains undeveloped.  

Lender Endless Bridge has this week appointed Interpath Advisory as administrator over DeTrafford No1 Castlefield, the vehicle set up to deliver the Ollier Smurthwaite-designed project.

The appointment of administrators comes as Endless Bridge seeks to “protect its position” following a bid from a disgruntled investor to wind the vehicle up, according to Interpath. 

Rick Harrison, managing director at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, said: “Our immediate focus will be to assess the options available for the site alongside our agents, bringing it to market in due course. 

“Interested parties are advised to contact us at the earliest opportunity.” 

The full picture of the company’s collapse – how much it owes and to whom – is yet to materialise but it is likely that investors will be left out of pocket. 

It has not yet been confirmed exactly how many of the 420 units were sold off plan.  

However, according to a marketing email from one of DeTrafford’s sales agents sent in April 2022, all 140 of the one-bedroom apartments had been spoken for. 

Falling dominos 

DeTrafford No1 Castlefield’s collapse is the seventh domino in director Gary Jackson’s DeTrafford empire to fall. 

Most recently, a pair of SPVs that control one of the two proposed blocks that make up the DeTrafford’s 366-home Gallery Gardens scheme in Manchester was placed into administration.   

Just a few days before the collapse of Gallery Gardens, the vehicle behind the developer’s completed 166-apartment Sky Gardens was put into administration. 

Last August, Place North West revealed that the company behind Wavelength, DeTrafford’s proposed 421-home development at Salford Quays, had gone into administration.  

Creditors on this scheme, which has never been built, are owed almost £11m, according to a report by administrator Kroll.  

In September, BDO was appointed by lender Maslow as administrator to DeTrafford St Georges Gardens, the vehicle behind the completed 138-apartment development of the same name.   

The following month, Maslow once again instructed BDO, this time over DeTrafford City Gardens, the company behind a 109-flat development.  

In December, a report by BDO on City Gardens and St George’s Gardens revealed the companies owed a combined £26m to creditors.  

The collapse of the Sky Gardens vehicle means the companies behind three of the four completed blocks within the Castlefield masterplan are in administration. Roof Gardens is not in administration.