Work starts on £29m Salford Passivhaus resi

Spring 2028 is the target date for main contractor Eric Wright Construction to finish building 90 affordable homes on the former Regent Trading Estate, a project developed by ECF and Salford City Council.

Upon completion, the 63 apartments and 27 townhouses that make up the £29m Oldfield Basin will be acquired by the city council’s wholly owned housing company Derive. It is part of the £1bn Salford Central masterplan, which has already delivered more than 1,000 homes.

Oldfield Basin was drawn up by architect Feilden Clegg Bradley and sits on two acres of brownfield land next to Islington Mill. As part of the proposals, two of the units from the site’s days as a trading estate have been kept for creative uses.

The apartments will have between one and two bedrooms, with 40 set aside for social rent. All of the 27 townhouses will have three bedrooms. The tallest building on the site will be six storeys high.

All 90 residences that make up Oldfield Basin are designed to Passivhaus standards, meaning they will be naturally more energy efficient than the typical home.

Eric Wright Construction has a target completion date of spring 2028 for Oldfield Basin. Credit: via Eric Wright Construction

The start of construction on Oldfield Basin comes more than a year and a half after the city council’s planning committee voted to approve the application in November 2024. Since then, there has a been systematic series of applications meeting various planning conditions.

Regarding construction beginning, Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said: “It’s great that works have started on these high-quality, energy-efficient homes on the former Regent Trading Estate in the Ordsall ward, aimed at supporting residents and families in our city with reducing their energy bills, especially given the on-going impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, the global volatility of our energy markets and the real impacts this is having on households in Salford.”

Dennett went on to describe Oldfield Basin as “exactly the kind of innovative development that will ensure Salford remains a vibrant, healthy, and inclusive place to live for generations to come.”

This is the third Passivhaus project Eric Wright has done for ECF, a joint venture between Legal & General, Muse, and Homes England. The other two are Willohaus and Greenhaus. Both are located in Salford.

ECF director of project management Alan McBride referenced both Willohaus and Greenhaus in his remarks around Oldfield Basin.

“Alongside ECF’s completed Passivhaus developments at Greenhaus and Willohaus, with our partners, we’re demonstrating our commitment to breathing new life into Salford through sustainable future-proofed communities, and we look forward to seeing Oldfield Basin come to life over the next two years,” he said.

Eric Wright Construction managing director John Hartnett touched on some of the challenges around delivering the scheme.

“The project is constrained on three sides by a railway line, a busy road to the city centre and Islington Mill Arts Club which includes neighbouring businesses, that will remain open during construction,” he said.

“Our team will continue to work closely and collaboratively with the client, stakeholders and the surrounding community to ensure the successful delivery of the project, whilst minimising disruption wherever possible.”

In addition to FCB, the planning project team for Oldfield Basin included landscape architect Re-Form and planner DPP. Rounding out the team were Stephan Levrant Heritage Architecture, Cundall, Dustscan, Salford Archoleogy, Proximity, TACE, Tyler Grange, Renaissance, Social Value Portal, SLR, Cheshire Woodlands, and GIA.

You can learn more about the application by searching reference PA/2024/1152 on Salford City Council’s planning portal.