Salford and Manchester ready to rubber-stamp 7,000-home joint vision
Salford City Council will be first to adopt the 320-acre framework mapping out the regeneration of Strangeways and Cambridge Industrial Estate as a material planning consideration next Tuesday, with Manchester City Council following the next day.
After a period of public consultation on the Strangeways/Cambridge strategic regeneration framework earlier this year, the document is now ready for adoption, signaling a major step forward for the redevelopment of one of the city region’s most challenged areas.
The SRF has been drawn up by Avison Young alongside Maccreanor Lavington, Feilden Clegg Bradley, Schulze-Grassov, Civic Engineers, Useful Projects, and Placed.
It incorporates both Manchester’s Strangeways district and Salford’s Cambridge Industrial Estate.
The SRF represents a cross-border approach to regeneration and a joint strategy to address the area’s long-standing social and environmental issues.
As well as up to 7,000 homes in buildings up to 30 storeys, the SRF sets out a vision for a 60-acre park in Salford called Copper Park designed to mitigate against the risk of floods in the future. Some 3.1m sq ft of new or improved commercial space is also planned.
The councils have long recognised the growth potential of the area, which is located on the fringes of Manchester city centre, where demand for both homes and commercial space is high.
Perhaps the biggest issue facing the area is the presence of HMP Manchester.
The prison has long been thought of as a barrier to the area’s growth and Manchester City Council has asked the Ministry of Justice to relocate it elsewhere. As yet, the MoJ has not obliged.
Due to a lack of movement on the relocation plans, the SRF has be drawn up with the prison in situ. However, the SRF acknowledges the scale of the opportunity around the prison should it ever move.
The SRF in brief
- HMP Manchester & Jury Street: A catalytic neighbourhood at the heart of the SRF. Home of the existing HMP Manchester with potential for long term change subject to the relocation of the prison.
- Derby Street: An intensified business district, supported to ensure the long-term preservation and evolution of the business base in the area.
- Copper Park: A regional destination, multi-functional open space delivered to create positive amenity and biodiversity in response to future flood risk.
- Overbridge: Gateway to Copper Park from the city centre, an area of significant residential potential – up to 2,000 homes – but with important economic assets and heritage.
- Cheetham Park: A new urban-suburban residential neighbourhood of up to 1,000 homes, building on the heritage of the Victorian Cheetham Park and the nascent residential community around it.
- Dutton Street: The Dutton Street area is a natural extension of the city centre. Subject to the existing Great Ducie Street SRF, it is identified as residential-led mixed use area – up to 4,000 homes – where significant development and investment is already evident. This part of the SRF could accommodate 1.75m sq ft of new commercial space
- Lord Street: A transitional neighbourhood, connecting the residential-led change in Dutton Street with the economic focus of Derby Street to the north, and with Red Bank and Victoria North to the east.
Whitehall really doesn’t care. If we were in Poland, the value of Strangeways as an anchor – Battersea Power Station of the north? – would have been recognised years ago
By Anonymous
The Ministry of Justice budget needs are much much more important for the national economy than the hundreds of millions of economic benefit to be gained by moving that eye-sore of a prison, or not. But, why should civil servants in London care anyway? It is not their problem. Where is Strangeways anyway?, they think.
By James Yates
Move the prison, it’s too close to to city centre
By Anonymous
James Yates – London does need to care, and is indeed their problem, mainly because the prison is beyond life-expired and in need of renewal. Thus, combine the two opportunities and get regen as a benefit of moving the prison to a modern, new site.
By Strangeways needs an update - so move it
Given the lack of prison places in the UK Strangeways will not be closing anytime soon.
By Anonymous
Copper Park is a silly name. Just call it Strangeways, which is what it is.
By Elephant
Has the current cost of police and council enforcement activities in this area been considered in the business case?
By Anonymous
That place has been called strange ways for over a thousand years.. strange ways the name should stay.. until we have less criminals.. the prison will stay as it is… Those walls are too expensive.. although you could put an amazing recreational site within them.. Eventually.. one day
By Anonymous
A new prison to replace Strangeways even on a greenfield site would cost around £1 billion (see the new HMP Glasgow replacing Barlinnie).
That could be much better spent than on clearing a plot for MCC & Friends to build more flats, notwithstanding the current state of government finances.
By Rotringer
The whole area north of the city centre needs demolishing and a skyscraper neighbourhood constructed with plenty of green space. Tens of thousands of homes could be created in a well designed, walkable city centre.
By MC
Where will I buy my knock-off perfume now, so inconsiderate?
By Tammy
Leave strangeways alone. It’s a Manchester institution!
By Anonymous
Leave strangeways alone it would cost 100 mil to rebuild another and relocate it just another way to waste tax payer money
By Anonymous
Would Salboy, FEC and Renaker be the developer of this regeneration scheme? Or Berkeley, Hills?
By Martina
and where does Manchester want a replacement jail to be built? They’ll hardly be a queue of willing volunteers.
By Anonymous
Moving Strangeways could work out quite well for the prison service. They could sell the current very old, inefficient and very expensive to run/maintain city centre prison building for development, and buy a cheaper plot to build a new prison that’s much more efficient to run and maintain…
By Ian Hart
Would be a huge missed opportunity if the prison isn’t moved. Wish this Country would think more long-term. Hopefully the current Labour Government will oblige to Manchester’s request so the SRF can take account of the opportunity the huge prison plot presents.
By D
@ Anonymous 9:33pm. . Acres of well connected land at Atom Valley, which will have a Metrolink connection eventually. . Perfect spot
By Clouded Leopard
The prison should be moved – the long term strategy needs to be given priority over the short term cost of relocating. The ‘regenerated’ area will forever be blighted if the prison remains. The exiting prison can be sold for high density resi and deliver a complete transformation of the area. The prison can move to somewhere more operationally efficient.
By Anonymous
It would indeed cost a considerable amount of money to rebuild the prison elsewhere, however the sale of the existing site and the efficiency of a new building over the current Victorian monstrosity could create a viable business case for a project.
By Anonymous
Hats off to both Councils involved. If only some of their respective counterparts in the Liverpool City Region had a similar vision and boldness to act in their areas.
By Anonymous
Strangeways would make an amazing film set/museum/residential conversion and could become a centrepiece for the area. It’s not fit for purpose and a new prison makes sense
By MJC
I would keep the main prison buildings, loose some of the outer walls of course, it would make such a cool incubator space for business, artists etc creatives a perfect layout for a tech park where the buildings fan out. Deffo keep the name Strangeways but possibly just for the park not the whole area.
By Graham