Salboy prepares for first Castle Irwell homes
The developer is pushing ahead with its 500-home Salford scheme by lodging plans for the first phase of 157 units, while its construction arm Domis starts preparatory work on site.
The houses and apartments are to be built on the 36-acre site of the former Castle Irwell Student Village, off Cromwell Road and Littleton Road and bounded by the River Irwell. Salboy bought the land for around £15m last November from the University of Salford.
The site has outline consent for 500-homes and Salboy has now submitted a detailed application for the first phase of housing.
That phase is planned to provide a mix of two-, three and four-bedroom houses, which the developer expects to complete by the middle of next year subject to the application being approved.
Two additional phases of 110 and 233 homes respectively will follow. Calderpeel Architects designed the scheme.
Euan Kellie Property Solutions is the planning consultant for the development, which will also feature a three-acre green space with play area at the centre. Layer.studio is the landscape architect.
SK Planning and Renaissance are also on the project team as transport consultant and civil engineer.
Salboy bought the site for £15m last year
Simon Ismail, founder and director of Salboy, said: “This is a location with huge history, presenting a rare opportunity to revitalise a brownfield site with local homes at the heart of Salford.
“It will be a place for people who work in the city but want to own a home with more space and nature on the doorstep.
“We will be releasing more details of the properties soon and launching sales later this year, with the first homes to complete by mid-2021.”
Salboy submitted its first application for Castle Irwell in April – to restore and convert the turnstile building at the Cromwell Road entrance to the site into offices and marketing suites for Salboy and its lead contractor Domis.
The turnstile building was most recently used as a shop and laundry facility for students of Castle Irwell. It was built in 1900 as the entrance to the former Manchester Racecourse, which occupied what is now Kersal Wetlands – behind the development site – before closing in 1963.
