PLANNING | Latest Middlewood Locks phase primed for approval

Plans for 189 homes across four plots at Middlewood Locks, the first phase at Salboy’s Castle Irwell scheme and two residential blocks by The Guinness Partnership, are all recommended for approval when Salford City Council’s planning committee meets tomorrow.

Middlewood Locks phase three 

The Middlewood Locks development covers 25 acres

Developer: FairBriar International, joint venture in which Scarborough International Properties holds a 50% stake, with Metro Holdings of Singapore and Hualing Group of China controlling 25% each

Planner: Zerum 

Architect: Whittam Cox Architects 

The scheme’s third phase is to provide 176 one- to three-bedroom apartments in two blocks. The blocks are to reach 10 storeys and 12 storeys respectively and are situated on the northern side of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal, opposite the 275-home first phase of the scheme. 

There would be seven canalside two- to four-bedroom townhouses. The project will also feature 5,150 sq ft of ground floor commercial and retail accommodation, and an additional 5,000 sq ft of offices. 

Subject to planning approval, work will start in early 2021 with completion expected in the summer 2023, according to Scarborough, whose chairman is Kevin McCabe. The landscape architect is Planit-IE and the lead contractor is expected to be BCEGI, which delivered the first two phases. 

The second phase, comprising four buildings of up to 10 storeys in height and a total of 546 apartments, topped out in February and is set to complete in 2021. 

Phases one and two were bought by a joint venture between Delancey Oxford Residential, fund manager APG and developer Qatari Diar for £180m in early 2019. The apartments are being rented under the venture’s Get Living brand. 

Once complete, Middlewood Locks will provide a total of 2,215 homes and 900,000 sq ft of commercial space, including offices, hotel, shops, restaurants, a convenience store and gym. Overall, the site has a gross development value of more than £700m, according to the development team. 

Castle Irwell phase one  

The first phase of homes are due to complete next year subject to approval

Developer: Salboy 

Planner: Euan Kellie Property Solutions 

Architect: Calderpeel 

Salboy’s plans for the first 157 homes within the wider redevelopment of the 36-acre site were due to be decided upon at last month’s planning committee but were withdrawn from the agenda. 

The first phase would provide a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom houses, which the developer hopes to complete by mid-2021. The whole scheme is planned to deliver 500 homes at the site of the former Castle Irwell Student Village off Cromwell Road and Littleton Road, which closed in 2015. 

Salboy bought the land for around £15m last November from the University of Salford. Two additional phases of 110 and 233 homes, comprising a mix of houses and apartments, will follow. There is also provision for a school on the site as part of outline plans signed off in June. 

SK Planning and Renaissance are also on the project team as transport consultant and civil engineer respectively. 

Adelphi Court blocks

The blocks will be built on land between Adelphi Court and Delaney Court

Developer: The Guinness Partnership 

Planner and architect: Arcus Consulting 

The developer wants to build two blocks, at three storeys and five storeys high, on three acres between the existing 15-storey Adelphi Court and Delaney Court, to provide 58 flats available on social rent. 

The five-storey block faces Cannon Street and will contain 38 apartments and the three-storey block, facing Silk Street, will provide the other 20. The Guinness Partnership also own Cherry Tree Court in Pendleton which is set to be demolished for technical and safety reasons.  

Some of Cherry Tree Court’s former residents have been rehoused in Adelphi Court. The two new-build blocks will “help meet an acute housing need within Salford,” according to a design and access statement from Arcus Consulting. 

The statement added that there is still “an established need for re-provision of the lost homes from Cherry Tree Court”.