Broadway Malyan showcases 2080 vision for Wigan

Working with Skanska, GL Hearn, and WSP, architect and urbanist Broadway Malyan has launched a “data-driven thinktank” to outline how Greater Manchester’s transit hubs could be developed, with Wigan picked for a pilot study.

The thinktank has developed a data-driven model to identify development opportunities in Greater Manchester’s transport hubs and satellite towns, with data gathered on residential density, land ownership, accessibility, and levels of education.

Studies and appraisals were carried out for all of Greater Manchester’s 97 railway stations, which suggested the region’s transit hubs were falling short on measures of sustainability and liveability.

Wigan was chosen for a pilot study, as the only town-centre station in Greater Manchester with a HS2 stop by 2033, and future options laid out by Broadway Malyan include high-density buildings of up to 10 storeys focussed around a station plaza.

Other options include selective redevelopment of brownfield sites within 800m of the town’s two stations, with a “flatter urban form” of around five to six storeys, with a “reimagined town centre core” delivered within 30 years.

The plans were first showcased at Place North West’s Northern Transport Summit and were presented by Broadway Malyan’s director of urbanism Danny Crump, who is leading the project for the practice.

He said: “Delivering excellent and livable places around integrated transit and development is a major aim for many cities as not only does this approach have significant positive impacts on life quality, it is also a key consideration in the investment decisions of institutions and developers.

“Greater Manchester is one of Europe’s fastest growing metropolis with a population set to exceed 3m by 2040, generating a need for a further 200,000 new homes and 180,000 jobs over this period to sustain this level of growth.

“The commitment by the Mayor to review the region’s spatial strategy combined with the arrival of high speed rail in the next 15 years offers Greater Manchester a huge opportunity to move towards a metropolitan vision that is more strategic and integrated as it strives to meet the region’s growth aspirations.”