Slow start for Splash’s self-build contest

Only six out of the 20 houses in Urban Splash's Tutti Frutti design contest for a 'pick and mix' street in Manchester's New Islington have made it to the planning application stage.

The innovative contest launched last yesterday invited teams to design their own homes with the winners able to buy plots for between £160,000 and £200,000.

Nicola Wallis, director of Urban Splash, told Architects' Journal the developer was still "completely committed" to building the whole street but said it would be phased from here on.

Wallis added: "Many [of the original winners] didn't want to go through because of the commitment needed in terms of timescales. The type of people looking at buying into Tutti Frutti are probably looking at the residential market anyway.

"[But] some of those entering the original phase are going to return in the second phase, and said a later stage suits them better. For example, one entrant hopes to build his house right at the end of the street so he wants to do that once the others have been completed."