More than 260 new homes have been approved on the former site of an award-winning building.
The old Adelphi and Centenary Building on Peru Street were demolished last year to make way for new housing. Now a brand new complex of three five to six storey apartment blocks with a total of 263 homes has been greenlit on the land.
The Centenary Building won the Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize in 1996, and was regarded as ‘the UK’s best new building’ at the time. But it was left sitting empty and unused for years before it was bulldozed in October last year.
Now ECF, a partnership between developers and government agencies, have permission to transform the area into two L-shaped blocks around a green courtyard with 74 and 77 one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, which will be available for sale and private rental; and a longer tower block with 112 affordable homes. The affordable homes will mostly be single bedroom units, with four two-bed apartments.
Mr Steve Thomas, a senior development officer for ECF, told a planning meeting on Wednesday, June 12, the development would introduce’ a strong place-making strategy’ to the area, by adding more green spaces, better pedestrian and cycle links, and more affordable homes.
Mr Thomas said: “The proposal has been put together through extensive consultation with the council and the local community, and the many benefits of this scheme include the regeneration of an underused brownfield site, well-designed and energy-efficient new homes, and the creation of several job opportunities for the local area both throughout the construction and beyond.”
The plans include closing off Peru Street to through traffic to turn part of the road into a little green space for residents. There will be eight accessible car parking spaces, though locals will have to primarily rely on the ‘well-connected, sustainable public transport links’ in the area.
The application received only one objection and was widely welcomed by councillors at a planning meeting on Wednesday, June 12.
However councillor Bob Clarke blasted the design of the building, saying: “This has no architectural value whatsoever. It’s a blot on the landscape, it’s just a block. These buildings never age well and I wish more could be done to cover it in some greenery. It looks like something out of post-war East Berlin.”
Others leapt to the building’s defence, arguing it ‘echoed the architectural language of the surrounding area’ and carried nods to the former uses of the site.
The application was passed, meaning another major part of the Salford Crescent regeneration is due to go ahead. The £2.5bn project by ECF – which is made up of urban developers Muse, Homes England, and L&G – aims to transform 240 acres of Salford around the university. A number of projects are already underway or nearing completion, such as Salford Rise, a ‘green walkway in the sky’ over Frederick Road. Plans have also been approved for 227 new homes at the former Farmer Norton car park.
