Salford recruits Muse and Peel as ‘regen partners’
The developers are the first appointed as part of an initiative between the city council, Homes England, and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority aimed at delivering long-term regeneration projects at pace.
First announced last year, the Strategic Regeneration Partnership is intended as a new, streamlined option for unlocking development and ensuring the private and public sectors are aligned at an early stage.
Muse and Peel already have large-scale Salford regeneration projects under their respective belts. Muse is in the final phases of the £1bn Salford Central and at the very beginning of the £2.5bn Crescent masterplan.
Meanwhile, Peel owns a 25% stake in Media City and several other large tranches of land across the city, including 74 acres off Leigh Road in Worsley.
Salford has appointed these firms as partners due to their “track record and vested interest” in the city, according to head of development regeneration Kurt Partington. They will be involved in shaping Salford’s pipeline of large-scale projects and providing insight from a private sector perspective.
More developers may be added to the partnership at a later date and Partington said he hopes that others get in touch to find out how they can play a part in Salford’s regeneration story going forward.
Cllr Jack Youd, deputy city mayor and lead member for finance, support services and regeneration at Salford City Council, said: “This is a new option for the delivery of development and regeneration projects across Salford, with the aim of accelerating development projects for the benefit of residents and communities.
“It’s about increasing the quality, pace and scale of housing delivery and placemaking in the city, helping to build local community wealth and growing the social economy.”
With Crescent, Media City, and Salford Central already established, the next wave of Salford regeneration projects is expected to see areas such as Eccles and Swinton town centres, and Liverpool Street benefit from the city’s pursuit of growth.
He added: “Muse and Peel each have a long and successful track record of working with the council in Salford to see through long-term transformational change that has delivered high-quality regeneration. We are pleased to announce both of them as the first strategic regeneration partners to join the forum.”
The regeneration forum is the latest place-focused delivery vehicle supported by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Others include Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation and Atom Valley Board.
An MDC model was considered for Salford but it was decided that a bespoke forum was the best option for the city.
It’s been a long time since Peel actually built anything themselves other than land sales so won’t hold my breath on them doing anything spectacular in this partnership.
By Anon
Liverpool Street, specifically the area from Middlewood locks up to the Albion Way, needs a masterplan for unlocking its potential. By my calculations the area is roughly 1 sq mi. The city of London is also said to be a square mile, I’m not saying that could be replicated in full here but redevelopment of the area needs to be correct in definitely creating a new business and commercial district with apartments (and not houses) which would further grow Manchester’s CBD as a whole
By Verticality
It’s good to see progress on regeneration, although Muse (directly and via the English Cities Fund) seem to be in danger of monopolising Greater Manchester regeneration projects given their involvement in Salford, Prestwich, Wythenshawe, Stockport….
Is there a shortage of alternative developers for regeneration projects?
By Salfordian
@Anon August 16, 2024 at 4:21 pm. My knowledge of Peel is that they continually build and invest across a broad portfolio in many sectors and have JV’s/Partnerships with others. Land sales seem to be part of a wider spectrum of their commercial activity..
By Anonymous
I think there is a shortage of “upstart” developers. Generally the usual suspects concentrate on easy wins off the back of a thriving market.
By Sceptic
well, this will be dull, no doubt about it.
By Ewan McColl