ECF lodges plans for houses on Salford’s Farmer Norton car park
Comprising 42 three-bedroom Passivhaus homes, the project forms part of the £2.5bn Crescent masterplan.
ECF’s three-storey homes would be located on a 1.8-acre L-shaped section of the Farmer Norton car park, located off Adelphi Street and Peru Street and owned by the University of Salford.
The remainder of the car park is also earmarked for redevelopment and would be the subject of a separate planning application.
Designed by dRMM Architects, all 42 of the properties in phase one of the Farmer Norton scheme would be available on affordable tenures.
The scheme is located close to another similar ECF project, Valette Square, which comprises a clutch of townhouses and was delivered as part of the Salford Central masterplan.
Due to the Passivhaus nature of the proposed homes, residents would benefit from reduced energy bills of up to 90% compared to traditional housing, according to ECF, the regeneration JV between Muse, L&G, and Homes England.
If Farmer Norton receives planning consent, work is expected to begin in summer 2025.
The development is ECF’s third Passivhaus scheme in the area. The 96-flat Greenhaus completed last year, while Willohaus, which comprises another 100 low carbon apartments, is under construction.
Steve Thomas, senior development manager at ECF, said: “Through the creation of Passivhaus communities like Farmer Norton, we’re bringing together placemaking, regeneration and investment expertise to bridge the gap for affordable, high-quality, sustainable homes.
“We’ll build on the success and learnings from Greenhaus and Willohaus, ensuring we continue to deliver much-needed housing that has a positive impact on the environment and the people of Salford.”
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said: “It is positive news that the planning application for 42 affordable and energy efficient homes has now been submitted for the Planning Panel to consider.
“Providing high quality, affordable, sustainable homes is a key priority of mine, and a scheme such as this which helps us deliver the homes our residents need and deserve is very welcome.”
CBRE is advising on planning, Identity Consult is the project manager, and Reform is the landscape architect. Clancy, Hannan Associates, Hollis, Max Fordham, Stephen Levrant Heritage Architecture, TSP, Arcadis, and Design Fire are also advising.
To learn more about the scheme, search for reference number PA/2025/0043 on Salford City Council’s planning portal.
Great to see more urban townhouses planned here. Shame the design is so dull – horrid standard windows. Why not reflect the design of the Valette square development which at least has some interesting features.
By J
Sorry but this looks like a slum, no effort whatsoever into the architecture
By Craig
I’m all for Passivhaus until you see how utterly dreary and monotonous the architecture is.
By Anonymous
@ January 28, 2025 at 5:20 pm
By J
I agree. Those windows are dire.
By Rye
J my guess would be this the outcome of the houses being assigned as affordable rather than market – less money to spend on such details. It could also be as a result of meeting Passivhaus standards (with smaller windows etc)
By Anonymous
What are your plans for the 20 Bungalows on Devine close,at present these are Salix Homes properties.Been there for approximately 40 years ??
By Barry crossley
Missed opportunity to include a yellow Bee Network bus in the image as opposed to London style red one.
By Winston
4 years behind the original schedule they gave us when we bought. Apparently Salford university wanted more money for the site. Glad it’s eventually being developed though. Just need to improve the street scene generally there. Paving, lighting, tree scape. Please use a little of this biophilic design you so often talk about. Don’t let it just be words on planning application. Make it reality…
By Salfordian
Love that it’s Passivhaus, but hopefully they can improve the design with more active frontages and avoiding flat rooves like the render above (maybe tenure is pushing costs here). It may turn out quite well though- the quality of this depends on whether they use reasonable quality bricks and whether they develop the rest of the site at a high enough density that it doesn’t seem like suburbanisation of a central site/ a wasted opportunity.
By Tom D
This looks like a wing of an open prison (with hedges). Does ‘affordable housing ‘ really have to look so brutally grim and visually basic? Salford should be doing better than this by now – so it’s back to the 70’s, but not in a good way.
By Anonymous
Know you have to watch the quantum of glazing to get the certification, but this is awful! Reorganising the windows to add some interest would help.
What is happening to the rest of the car park – this is only part of it?
By Passiv Design
That is absolutely dire. Is that really the best that the design team and client could come up with?
By Anonymous
The biggest boost in affordable and social housing development in a generation will splash this type of housing all over the Green Belt.
That’s why the reference to ‘beauty’ was removed from the NPPF.
By Bentley Driver