Holt Town Jan , MCC, p MCC

A CPO may be required to assemble the land required to make the vision a reality. Credit: via MCC

Sign-off nears for 4,500-home Holt Town vision as fresh images emerge

Manchester City Council’s executive will meet next week to adopt a framework to guide the redevelopment of 74 acres of brownfield land into what the authority is dubbing a “woodland town”.

Fresh images showing what Holt Town, located between the city centre and East Manchester, could look like have been released.

Scroll down to see the latest Holt Town images

Drawn up by a team of consultants led by Studio Egret West, the Holt Town vision is for a 4,500-home neighbourhood that is rooted in nature, champions sustainability, and prioritises people.

As well as thousands of homes – at least 20% of which would be affordable – the area will feature 15 acres of green space, a 1km play street, a lido, and 30,000 sq ft of commercial space.

Cllr Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council, said Holt Town has “huge potential”.

“This [development framework] is feeding our ambition to create a brand new woodland town – the first of its kind in Manchester,” she said.

“We have an opportunity to deliver a transformative programme of investment and we expect this area to be Manchester’s next urban regeneration exemplar, creating a neighbourhood that meets the needs of our city and our people.”

A consultation on the vision held last year generated a “positive” response from those who participated, according to the city council.

The vision sets out a direction of travel but deliverability of the aims will require the city council to take a proactive approach to land assembly. Holt Town is in fractured ownership, which means a CPO will likely be required to pave the way for redevelopment.

Craig added: “This neighbourhood will represent a people first focus around active travel, green spaces, new play spaces for young people – and a digital first approach that will better connect the community with local services.

“Following consultation, we are beginning to move to the early delivery phase for Holt Town – a new town within the city of Manchester – that will finally bridge the gap between the city centre, Sportcity and the Etihad Campus in east Manchester.”

The project team for Holt Town, in addition to Studio Egret West, includes planner Deloitte, digital engagement specialist Deetu, social value expert Hatch, transport engineer Hilson Moran, digital placemaking consultant MVRDV, and economic analyst Turley.

Click any image to launch gallery

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Really exciting – public realm elements look superb & the woodland vision sounds intriguing.

I do feel that levelling the gas works is missing a trick. Coal Drops Yard’s gas works accommodation is a real focal point and would add some industrial heritage charm to Holt Town.

Holt Town metrolink to become a tad busier!!

By Anonymous

10/10 – This and Victoria North are set to transform Manchester’s neglected areas a stone’s throw from the city centre.

By Anonymous

This looks promising overall, but to call it a ‘woodland town’ is laughable – have MCC councillors ever seen a woodland?
I’m not a fan of the last image – there should be much better usage of the canal, with buildings fully set back on both sides (ideally, i’d love if there were a requirement for all new buildings along canals to be set back say 5m)

By Anonymous

The pedant in me can’t help but point out that MCC have an Executive rather than a Cabinet, though the model is the same as far as I know.

By Anonymous

A ‘new town’, hello Angela Rayner.

By Rich X

Do no forget a Town Center. Otherwise it will be just another housing estate without an identifiable local identity.

By Anonymous

Looks great but the fact that a massive and unprecedented transport infrastructure project isn’t even as much as a pipe dream in the next 20-30 years is utterly baffling. Adding potentially 10-15,000 more people onto an already overcrowded tram line that serves a stadium and arena. If this city is spilling out in every direction with entire new districts then it needs an underground. The place is already gridlocked – at least some think tank humour us with a false sense of hope.

By Anonymous

Street-based urbanism with variety, active frontages, gentle density and generous landscaping. More people of this!

By Rye

Good to see a scheme with active travel and commercial space baked into it.

I’ll remain sceptical on the green space until I see it though.

By Anonymous

Manchester underground and strategic transport network definitely needed in the coming years. We need our secondary cities to get on par with European counter parts – it’s a disgrace how far behind countries like Germany we are

By Anonymous

Anonymous at 9.42am – An underground in Manchester? Don’t be ridiculous!

This is only something that ‘proper’ big cities can aspire to like Brescia (population 200,000) Rennes (221,000) or Cluj-Napoca (286,000).

Until then we should encourage people to walk or cycle everywhere just as they did back in Victorian times.

By UnaPlanner

We all know it won’t look like that once the usual developers start ‘Value Engineering’

By Anon

I agree with the comments that the buildings should be set back from the canal which seems shortsighted on walking links. A more of a central town centre focus on the side close to the metrolink stop should also be included. Unfortunately consultations miss sites and forums where comments are made and mistakes are made that can’t be reversed. Once you build next to the canal you won’t reverse that one

By Tomo

145 dwellings per ha. Superb! Looks fantastic too, although appreciate we’re still in render world. Now repeat this across GM

By Anonymous

Holt Town. Again. This time with added ‘wood’

By Anonymous

love it! reminds me of some of the Copenhagen suburbs near the city.

By Anonymous

This development is everything that is wrong with volume house building and public policy. It does not bode at all well for the next ‘village’ in Handforth

By Anonymous

Lets hope this lives up to its potential and maximises a place for walking, cycling, and wheeling rather than the car-centric monstrosities we usually see sprouting up all over the city-region. There definitely needs to be focus on public realm and particular care with the canalside routes – these should be at least 3m wide on either side and suitable for pedestrians and cyclists. Hopefully better than various constrained routes that have been created along large parts of the Irwell in the city centre which have ruined the riverfront.

By Anonymous

The main image of the article outlines that on the only piece of useable green space that lies between Cambrian Street and Ashton New Road (bisected by the Metrolink line) indicates that there will be three residential towers on it. Good to see the Council’s place making is as good as ever taking only that space when they don’t really need to!

By Anonymous

The images look fantastic. Hope they maintain the Mancunian styles as much as possible throughout the plan.

By Honest Rainy City

The Lido is intriguing. The transport infrastructure for Central Manchester, is totally inadequate, as people say. If you buy cheap, as governments do where regional investment is concerned, you buy twice.

By Elephant

Loads of wild rabbits in them fields near the tram stop …..
Hopefully they will be moved along nicely

By William

As some people have mentioned Manchester needs an Underground system to cater for its fast increasing population and visitors.
We missed a trick some years ago when the Piccadilly to Victoria underground was scrapped. Just think how the system could have been extended in those intervening years.

By Peter Chapman

20% affordable ?

By TJL

Don’t be fooled by oversized trees. There is nowhere near enough green space for a size of this site.

By Anonymous

A little worried about the quality of the design. Hope this will not become just another banal red brick housing estate. I hope better use will be made of the roofs. Instead of making them flat, why not create Mansard roofs like those we see in France or elsewhere on the continent.

By John

Pleased for Manchester powering ahead. When will Liverpool pick up the gauntlet.

By DenseCity

Do the city football group have any involvement in this development?

By Anonymous

The design looks a little grim. Even a little depressing.

By John

I’ve got a three bedroom house with two parking spaces front and rear on the estate between Bradford Road and Holland street if anyone is interested. It will be a lot cheaper than getting ripped off with a tiny flat 😂. Very close to this so called new development.

By Anonymous

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