Kings Cross masterplanner picked to draw up vision for £4.2bn Trafford Wharfside
Allies and Morrison, which counts what is often cited as the exemplar for urban regeneration among its projects, has been appointed to lead a team to craft an overarching vision for almost 400 acres around Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium.
Consultants were put on alert earlier this year for the opportunity to pitch for the job, which will form the basis of what is arguably the highest profile regeneration project in the country.
Allies and Morrison, which drew up plans for the 66-acre Kings Cross regeneration for Argent, has been awarded a £150,000 contract to draw up the masterplan.
The ambition is to deliver 17,000 homes in the area around Old Trafford.
Oxford Economics recently said the land around the ageing football ground could generate more than £7bn for UK plc and £4.2bn locally. The plan is for around 15,000 homes as part of a wider mixed-use development.
To be given particular attention is the waterfront opposite MediaCity, Trafford Council said.
The architect-led consortium, which also includes SLA landscape, Civic and JLL, was appointed following a tender exercise. It will work with Trafford Council alongside Manchester United Football Club, GMCA, a proposed Mayoral Development Corporation and other partners. The goal is for the masterplan to be completed early next year.
Cllr Liz Patel, Trafford Council’s executive member for economy and regeneration, said: “Old Trafford regeneration is one of the biggest growth opportunities in the country and will be fantastic for our borough. New homes, new neighbourhoods, new businesses, new jobs, new green spaces and new community facilities – all within walking distance of public transport.
“A lot of publicity has been about Manchester United’s new stadium – this regeneration will complement those plans, and our master plan will be central to shaping the future of this area. We are delighted to be starting the master planning in earnest and look forward to working with the project team to deliver a comprehensive vision for the neighbourhood.”
Paul Eaton, partner at Allies and Morrison, added: “Trafford Wharfside has been recognised for some time as a focus for regeneration in the city, with the potential to become a thriving new neighbourhood.
“Our team will shape a proposal for the area that realises this exciting potential; a sustainable, deliverable vision that integrates new homes and employment with sport, supporting Trafford’s aspirations and ambitions for the future.
“This is a huge opportunity for Trafford, for the city and for our Manchester studio. We are delighted with this appointment and look forward to working with the council and its partners.”
Manchester United plans to build a new stadium costing in the region of £2bn next to its existing ground, which will act as a catalyst for the wider Wharfside regeneration.
Allies and Morrison’s masterplan will build on an existing framework for the area; some 212 acres of Wharfside were the subject of a masterplan recently drawn up by Hawkins\Brown, Avison Young, LDA Design, and Civic.
The updated masterplan that will sit above that document and cover 372 acres is now required to fully take advantage of the area’s regeneration potential, Trafford Council has said.
The earlier masterplan set out plans for around 5,000 homes while the new one will map out a vision for three times that.
Allies and Morrison’s other large scale regeneration projects include the 35-acre Barbican renewal in London and Bruntwood SciTech’s £1.7bn Sister scheme in Manchester.
A great appointment for such a prestigious project. Exciting to see what A&M produce
By Anonymous
Happy to see a new state of the art stadium, go there every year for the rugby. BUT to execute they are moving a rail freight terminal and placing it on 100s of acres of greenbelt good farmland. It will operate 24/7 between three small villages Lowton, Croft, and Winwick. Those villages have an infrastructure that is broken with traffic jams all around said site. It is also said 6000 people will work on the site…..will they helicopter em all in!!. This is an example of the mayor of Manchester kowtowing to Jim Ratcliffe, Seb Coe et al regardless of the damage to people’s lives elsewhere.
By Simon
@Simon – the site of the new rail freight (Parkside) is in St Helens which is part of the Liverpool City Region. It will be subject to its own separate Development Consent Order which will require approval by Secretary of State. So GM Mayor has no control over this. This site has been proposed for a rail freight interchange for decades, they just improved M6 j22 to help support this. Am sure other measures on local roads will be required and included in any consent.
By J
Given the comical circus tent at the heart of this masterplan it’ll be a a very challenging task for any consultancy, but i do trust the talented team at Allies and Morrison to develop a good vision for the wider scale of area which would compensate for the circus in the centre.
By Anonymous
I used to go out around kings Cross when it earned its reputation as one of the roughest areas in London. Having gone there recently the regeneration of that area is jaw dropping and surely one of the best regeneration projects in Europe more of that around old Trafford would be very welcome
By Anonymous
@Simon Not Greenbelt, the new rail freight depot site is a former colliery with rail sidings that were in use into the 80’s.
By Watcherzero
All aboard the Old Trafford regeneration gravy train. Stopping at Disappointment and Shattered Dreams Parkway
By Apache Leisure
@Simon It’s not greenbelt. It is allocated in the St Helens local plan precisely for a rail freight terminal. The surrounding land is allocated for industrial and logistics development.
By Anonymous
Kings Cross is stunning, and safe, I walked around there with my small child on a Friday night and it felt perfectly safe, even managed to take her to a restaurant, imagine that in a northern city.
By Anonymous
The stadium design is stunning and I’m sure the regeneration of the area will be a great success.
By Anonymous
A London based architectural practice leading the largest regeneration project in the North’s recent history…how sad, especially given the number of highly qualified practices we have up North. However it is unsurprising given that the stadium design paid zero homage to Manchester’s history and United’s ownership (new & old) have no connection to Manchester or normal people. This is a historic industrialised working class part of Greater Manchester – should Manchester and its people not be at the heart of this regeneration? How is a London based consultancy firm going to truly understand Manchester & our history? No doubt a London based contractor to build it. Yes there will be local job creation which is fantastic but it shouldn’t just be jobs at the “bottom” level, all levels of this regeneration should be carried out by Northern firms. I’m all for the redevelopment but let’s do it in a way which is going to properly uplift the North.
By Hamza
So no one fancied taking on the job from Manchester?
By Anonymous
I’m with Hamza, see below. The current stadium design reflects the industrial cranage of the old docks. The new tent design whilst stunning has landed with little local context. The team selected appears London centric and is unsurprisingly presided over by Trafford Council who struggle to deliver the simplest of schemes in Alti & Sale, and permanently frustrated other major
sporting proposals in the boro. Other than that all good.
By Tannoy
But no public monies must be used for this development as not everyone follows a club In dier straights financialy as other clubs have been fined and docked points for over spend ? FFP rules just because this club has been run into the ground with virtually no success over the last 15 yrs you surely cannot go to MP s etc and ask for help on this one just because there will be regeneration involved it still doesn’t cover up the fact that man u are on the edge of collapse ?
By Anonymous
Triple the amount of homes? i’m hoping for some juicy skyscrapers. This could be the beginning of a canary wharf style development! It would be great to see some skyscrapers and offices on the riverside, also having fun things to do there maybe padel courts and restaurants etc. This should attract tourist and make it a very active area for locals also. A park would be great too.
By Anonymous
Onwards and upwards..quite literally!
By Anonymous
@Hamza, the sad reality is that the best minds and most creative practices are all clustered in London, Allies and Morrison being one, i’d much rather have the best working on the project of this scale who have experience in delivering groundbreaking projects then local firms from Manchester with a provincial experience
By Anonymous
Will the new stadium be called New Trafford?
By Francis
I agree with @Simon that the road infrastructure around Lowton, Croft & Winwick is broken. It needs the Atherleigh Way by-pass from Leigh to be extended to the M6 J22 to alleviate the traffic through these villages. This could be achieved at a fraction of the cost of the Trafford masterplan.
By Sean
Hamza makes a valid point. That money should stay up here. The North West is easily the most creative region in Britain, and this is an opportunity for us to showcase our dynamism. It is unlikely that the latest LondonCentric government is going to fund much of this , like the billions Reeves, recently announced for the South East, she briefly mentioned it during her statement because she knew everything she had announced was for the South, so why is our project being given to them?
By Elephant
@Hamza (April 10, 2025 at 11:32 am)
There’s a lot of other new stadiums which pay zero hommage to their local area’s history. I mean, Wrexham are wanting to build a new stand designed with reference to the area’s Terracottapolis history and Spurs referenced their club’s history by not including a trophy room in their new stadium – but plenty of others have just built a big architect’s fantasy dream without really thinking about why it looks like it does. United’s circus tent is supposed to be referencing the trident in the club’s logo – not sure it succeeds, frankly, and I suspect the end design will be a million miles from the recent artist’s impressions – but on paper it’s a least trying.
By Anonymous
‘Crafting’ masterplans whatever next? Built by Laing O’Rourke artisans?
By Anonymous
At present there is no budget nor actual plans for the speculative new stadium. The absent billionaire owners in America and Monaco have not committed one single penny from their own funds.
Even at MIPIM, the operations person from Man U who was pitching the idea accepted that this was currently no more than illustrative.
The thought of new stadium can not be built unless a major freight terminal is re-located from Trafford to Merseyside at public expense.
Presently there are a number of publicity hungry individuals attaching themselves to a project with no budget nor financial commitments to it.
By Anonymous