Joint award winner for best brownfield development
Rule Britannia
Since a category for Best Brownfield Development was first introduced in these awards in 1999, to support the Government's campaign to raise the amount of new housing built on previously developed land, the proportion rose from 56 per cent in 1997 to achieve its target level of 60 per cent in 2000 and then went on to reach 67 per cent, at which level it has remained since 2002.
The effect this has had on the environment has been remarkable. Not only has it saved thousands of hectares of greenfield land from development but it has ensured that rundown areas of our towns and cities have been regenerated, bringing life back to lifeless buildings and creating or restoring communities in city centres.
Nowhere has this been more dramatic than in the North West of England, where one private property company, Urban Splash, has set the standard for what is now called urban regeneration since it was founded in 1993 by entrepreneur Tom Bloxham and architect Jonathan Falkingham. It now has more than 80 staff and has invested more than £100 million in creating more than 1 million sq ft of residential and commercial property.
Starting in Liverpool and Manchester, and venturing further afield to Altrincham, Birmingham, Bradford, Morecambe, Salford, Stalybridge, Wallsall and even Plymouth in the south west of England, Urban Splash has not only built new housing but saved old buildings, created jobs as well as homes, and shown buyers that there is something better than fake Tudor and neo-Georgian. By opening people's eyes to the advantages of modern architecture, it has created its own portfolio of great buildings, for which it has won more than 100 awards.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Manchester, where since 1998 it has undertaken the comprehensive regeneration of the area on the south side of the Bridgewater Canal that used to be known as Britannia Basin and St Georges, but for which it decided to adopt the name Castlefield, as it is a natural extension of the Castlefield Basin area on the other side of Egerton Street and the Mancunian Way.
Once a thriving industrial are full of Victorian mills and warehouses, it suffered from what ought to be called the Industrial Devolution, when industry declined, buildings were vacated and people moved away. In the 1960s, several old buildings were demolished to make way for utilitarian industrial sheds, which deteriorated at a quicker rate, so that it was not long before Britannia Basin and St Georges became a typical inner-city brownfield site. luckily, several of the older buildings had survived, though in various stages of dereliction.
Since 1998, when Urban Splash began its comprehensive regeneration of this area, it has created a completely new mixed-use quarter in the city centre of Manchester, with 604 apartments and live/work units in the five major developments so far. these are: Britannia Mills, where former warehouses were converted into 125 apartments in 2000; Box Works, where a 1920s Art deco former armoury was restored and converted into 83 apartments and six live/work units in 2001; Timber Wharf, its first new-build development, where 181 apartments and 17 live/work spaces were completed in 2002; Burton Place, where 90 new-build apartments have just been completed; and MoHo, its innovative modular housing development of 102 apartments.
Urban Splash now has plans to develop two more buildings in Phase 6 - Albert Mill (22 apartments) and Manchester Regiment (56 apartments) - and it has acquired several more buildings for future development, which will keep it working in the Castlefield area for at least another six years.
HomeBuilder: URBAN SPLASH LIMITED
Timber Wharf, 16-22 Worsley Street, Manchester M15 4LD
Tel 0161 839 2999 Fax 0161 839 8999
Contact: Lisa Ashurst, Communications Manager
Email: lisaashurst@urbansplash.co.uk
Website: www.urbansplash.co.uk
Architects:
Master planners: EDAW Plc
1a Lonsdale Square, Islington, London N1 1EN
Tel 020 7700 9500 Fax 020 7700 9599
Email: edaweurope@edaw.co.uk
Website: www.edaw.co.uk
Britannia Mills and Box Works: ARKHEION ARCHITECTS (formerly Urban Splash Architects)
Unit 204, Tea Factory, 82 Wood Street, Liverpool L1 4DQ
Tel 0151 706 0932 Fax 0151 707 8906
Email: design@arkheionarchitects.ltd.uk
Timber Whartf and Burton Place: GLENN HOWELLS ARCHITECTS
321 Bradford Street, Birmingham B5 6ET
Tel 0121 666 7640 Fax 0121 666 7641
Email: mail@glennhowells.co.uk
Website: www.glenhowells.co.uk
MoHo: shedkm
61a Bold Street, Liverpool L1 4EZ
Tel 0151 709 8211 Fax 0151 708 8226
Email: design@shedkm.co.uk
Website: www.shedkm.co.uk