Resi funder wanted for £40m Bury Interchange homes
Transport for Greater Manchester has put a call out for a company to finance, deliver, and operate a mid-density apartment scheme in the town centre – a project the organisation says is particularly suitable for SMEs.
While initially TfGM had been looking for an affordable rental product, the organisation has since opted to be “agnostic” regarding the tenure mix, according to the procurement notice.
The contract is with £40m, excluding VAT, and would be for between February 2027 and July 2031.
According to the procurement notice, the contract is “particularly suitable” for SMEs and voluntary, community, and social enterprises.
The site in question sits on the eastern end of the existing interchange, by Bury Market. It could hold a six-storey apartment block with between 70 and 80 apartments, according to TfGM.
Regarding submissions, project delivery will be worth 65% of the score, with the commerciality of the deal worth 25% and social value worth 10%.
Deadline for enquiries is 7 September, with tender submissions due before noon on 18 September. The project reference ID is DN826159, with documents accessible on procontract.due-north.com.
A decision award is due to be made in December.
Part of the £80m Bury Interchange programme includes the installation of a pedestrian bridge. Credit: via TfGM
Chris Barnes, infrastructure delivery director at TfGM, said: “The redevelopment of Bury Interchange will transform the way people get to and from the town by creating a modern, high-quality transport hub at its heart.
“It also presents an exciting opportunity to build much-needed housing as part of the plans, contributing towards the wider regeneration of Bury town centre while supporting local and national housing policy by building more homes on accessible brownfield sites.”
The apartments would be part of the second phase of TfGM’s broader, £80m programme to upgrade Bury Interchange and its surroundings, and to eventually turn the transport hub into a net-zero in operation facility.
The first phase of the scheme, which includes a pedestrian footbridge and access improvements, secured £25.1m from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement in June. Planning for this first phase came in July last year.
The proposed interchange site sits north of Pyramid Park, another residential opportunity – this time being led by Bury Council. The local authority launched its own hunt for a developer of the 7.4-acre site in May. According to those tender documents, Pyramid Park could hold more than 100 flats and 10 townhouses.
This story has been updated with additional information from TfGM.
As a resident of Bury, I understood the funding was achieved and the plan was going ahead. This now sounds like typical Labour juggling our money about to look progressive. Andy Burnham is the man who gives out credit like it is his own bank. I think wasting £25+ millions for a foot bridge proves how spending other people’s money is easy the hard part is not going over budget which it will for a few million more.
By Gary Booth
While no fan of Bury Council, Gary Booth is being a bit misleading with “£25+ millions for a footbridge” The CRST funding is for a development of the Interchange, platforms, traffic management schemes and new and improved Tram platforms. There is a reasonable debate regarding the bridge, but the footfall from two colleges and a couple of High Schools nearby will save pedestrian traffic over the busy dual carriageway and save time for everybody using it.
By Annoying Mouse
Perfect location for medium density housing, right on a major transport hub.
By EOD
In response to annoying mouse. Regardless of the overall spend, the interchange had millions spent on it not long ago and explain why on earth would you reconfigure the road from 2 lanes to 1 lane to cause a bottleneck and creat jams then spend money on a bridge for pedestrians when millions where spent on cycle lane nobody uses not to mention all the pedestrian crossings installed at a cost of £180,000 each.
By Gary Booth
Annoying mouse, I forgot to mention there is a subway leading from the same site to the interchange. Go figure.
By Gary Booth