Pair of 28-storey towers top Salford planning bill

Campus Living Villages’ 1,585-bed student scheme has been tipped for approval alongside ECF’s residential redevelopment of Regent Trading Estate and Salix Homes’ Passivhaus development for over-55s.

Eddie Colman and John Lester Court

The existing buildings [left] are to be demolished. Credit: PNW

Architect: Hadwell Cawkwell Davidson

Planner: WSP

Planning reference: PA/2024/1009

Campus Living Villages plans to demolish two 15-storey blocks in Pendleton and construct a pair of 28-storey buildings in their stead, increasing the number of student beds on site by more than 800.

Located off Belvedere Road in Salford, the scheme, which has received no objections, would see Eddie Colman Court and John Lester Court knocked down and the site’s density double to 1,585 units.

The first of the towers would comprise 810 student bedrooms and be located on the eastern portion of the site. The second, to the west, would house up to 675 apartments. An adjoining six-storey building would feature another 100 flats.

Campus Living Villages acquired the 2.2-acre site in 2009 and last year set about working up plans for its redevelopment citing a “significant need for student housing in Salford”.

CLV’s first vision for the site was unveiled last year and proposed retaining the existing buildings and extending them upwards.

A new-build 24-storey tower was also proposed. This development would have increased the number of student beds on the site from 700 to 1,400.

However, the plans were pulled in favour of the project going before Salford City Council’s planning and transportation committee next week.

Oldfield Basin

Feilden Clegg Bradley designed the scheme. Credit: via Influential

Developer: ECF

Architect: Feilden Clegg Bradley

Planner: DPP

Planning reference: PA/2024/1152

Proposals for 90 homes on the former Regent Trading Estate off Oldfield Road were submitted to the city council in the summer.

ECF, Salford City Council’s long-term development partner for the £1bn Salford Central masterplan, wants to deliver 63 one- and two-bedroom apartments and 27 townhouses on the site.

Branded as Oldfield Basin, the homes would be designed to Passivhaus standards, following in the footsteps of ECF’s recently completed Greenhaus nearby, the largest Passivhaus scheme in the country.

The project, which has received three objections, would be located next to Islington Mill, the home of the Islington Mill Arts Club. The development would also see a pair of warehouse units retained for cultural use, according to ECF.

In June, Place reported that ECF had acquired the long-leasehold of the site from Salford City Council, unlocking it for development.

Derive RP, the independent housing provider created by Salford City Council to deliver affordable and social housing across the city, will acquire and manage the homes upon completion of the project.

Arrow Street

The scheme would feature a GP surgery. Credit: via planning docs

Developer: Salix Homes

Architect: OMI Architects

Planner: Paul Butler Associates

Planning reference: PA/2024/1103

Salix’s Arrow Street development would provide 69 social rent apartments for elderly people, as well as a GP surgery.

Housing association Salix has put forward plans to redevelop the 2.5-acre Salford site before. In 2020, Salford City Council approved plans for a 70-apartment extra care scheme with a dementia speciality.

The updated proposals see the project shift from an extra care facility for the elderly to independent accommodation for the elderly.

The three-storey scheme would provide 66 one-bed apartments and three with two bedrooms.

The development would also be constructed to Passivhaus standards and would be Salix’s third scheme delivered to this level of sustainability.

Working with ECF, Salix recently completed the 96-flat Greenhaus, another Passivhaus scheme on Salford’s Chapel Street.

The construction of Willohaus, a 100-home, affordable development on Peru Street, began earlier this year.