Salford City Council has given the green light to a pioneering £1 billion development. This project will bring ten high- and medium-rise towers and uproot the historical landscape surrounding Regent Retail Park in Ordsall. This ambitious project, led by Henley Investment Management (HIM), is set to include the tallest tower in the city region, standing at an impressive 895 feet (273 meters) with 77 storeys. Construction will take place over the course of a decade, looking to remake some four miles of urban environment.
We’re redeveloping the northern half of the existing Regent Retail Park. This plan will create the space for a big new housing programme to address Salford’s desperately needed housing supply, as the city has over 5,000 people on its housing register right now. This initial phase of the development is set to bring 3,300 homes total, with 660 of those being affordable housing units.
With a height of 240 meters, this new skyscraper will pass Deansgate Square by 73 meters when finished, making it the third tallest building of the United Kingdom. If approved, the project would deliver huge economic returns on the city’s $99 million investment. It is expected to generate £3.7 million annually in council tax returns.
The new community will have residential units and an active civic heart. It will include a large public park and a place specifically set aside for healthcare-related development. All of these integrated components are designed to improve the overall quality of life for existing residents as well as better serve Salford’s rapidly growing population.
Even with these clear benefits, the proposals have faced serious backlash from the surrounding community and other stakeholders. Critics worry about the suburb’s breakneck pace of overdevelopment and the effects on its existing amenities.
“The 3,300 apartments in this tiny block is massive over-development; 3,300 homes here would create a concrete jungle,” said John Grant, a local resident. “It would sound the death knell of Ordsall as we know it now.”
Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Labour MP for Salford and Eccles, raised an important alarm. There’s no escaping the tremendous strain that rapid population growth puts on local public services, she noted.
“With the increase in population, there will be a need for extra GP places, school places, dentist places and a chemist, and at the moment there are still too many questions left unanswered,” she stated.
Proponents of the project claim that it will address the growing need for housing and services. Coun Mike McCusker welcomed the plans for affordable homes.
“660 affordable houses is a huge amount that will have a massive impact on our waiting list and residents in Ordsall whose kids can’t get out the house in their late 30s,” McCusker noted.
“Plainly put, we cannot meet the nation’s housing crisis through the construction pipeline alone,” said Hattie Charlier-Poole celebrating the new development.
“It’s very well publicised that the nation as a whole is struggling to build homes. It is the right place to house a lot of people and a lot of services,” she remarked.
