A New 244-Acre Northern Quarter? Salford's Grand Plan Revealed

The masterplan for a 244-acre slice of central Salford — tipped as Greater Manchester's next strategic growth opportunity, and a potential new Northern Quarter — will go before Salford council next week.

The plan, drawn up by 5plus Architects, covers land largely in the ownership of Salford City Council and Salford University.

The Salford Crescent and University masterplan consists of 225 buildings, 25 ha of open space, 20,000 students, 1.8M SF of academic real estate, 1,367 student beds on campus and 1,820 committed residential units.

"Potential exists to deliver significant levels of new residential and commercial development, along with an improved heritage and cultural offer which takes advantage of the wealth of heritage and cultural assets across the area," the promoters of the scheme have said.

The area already contains Salford's City Art Gallery, as well as the university and its performance spaces.

The masterplan is to be reviewed by the council on 26 February ahead of announcements at the Mipim property convention in Cannes in March.

Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett told Bisnow earlier this month he hoped the area could become a magnet like Manchester's dynamic tech-and-creative dominated Northern Quarter.

“We want this to be a cultural quarter, and we are masterplanning this now. It could absolutely be the place that those priced out of Manchester’s Northern Quarter come to, and we have to make sure placemaking there is not driven by a simple return-on-investment agenda, which we’ve seen too much of," he said.

Work on the plan has been in progress since 5Plus was appointed in June.