Creating a canalside community

Middlewood Locks

Manchester, UK

Middlewood Locks is a truly transformational regeneration of a former brownfield site in Salford – building a vibrant new community around a formerly abandoned stretch of canal.

The resulting neighbourhood creates exceptional waterside living at the gateway to the city of Manchester beside the River Irwell.

Middlewood Locks is a 25-acre mixed-use neighbourhood, located where the two cities of Salford and Manchester meet at the River Irwell.

The project has seen the major regeneration of a forgotten off-shoot of a canal, with a vibrant new urban community developed on the surrounding former brownfield site.

Buro Happold was engaged to provide multi-disciplinary consultancy across this multiple phase scheme.

We worked carefully within a strategy that dictated a net zero removal of material from the site in order to lessen any environmental impact .

Challenge

The 25-acre mixed-use development, situated where the two cities meet, will provide 2,215 new homes and create 900,000ft² of new commercial space, incorporating offices, hotel, retail and leisure uses.

Our engineers have been involved with this project since 2012, when we were first appointed to provide an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in support of the original plans for the development that were initially submitted by a previous land owner in 2006.

Due to such a significant time lapse, however, our team had to undertake much of the original survey work again. This process supported the client in reimagining this vast site and helping them to get through all the planning constraints, working in close collaboration with planning consultants Zerum.

Buro Happold was then engaged to provide a full suite of multi-disciplinary consultancy to support the realisation of the new masterplan for the site.

Solution

Our ground engineers provided an initial site assessment for Scarborough Developments, in order to inform their acquisition of the site from the current owners. We assessed the extent of remediation work already carried out and advised on the likely risks around any remaining ground contamination.

At a time when the market was largely focused on the private rental sector, the developers saw the benefit of producing a development based on a hybrid model, with a mix of rental and home ownership across the site, in order to support the seeding of a vibrant new community.

Scarborough Developments worked with Beijing Construction Engineering Group International (BCEGI) to realise the scheme following an initial introductory meeting engineered by the Buro Happold team. BCEGI became funders to the project, as well as construction contractors.

Initially, our work involved overcoming site constraints and managing the EIA process by providing detailed information on elements such as air quality, ecology and ground contamination. We then delivered a further EIA for a later change of use application for the site, as well as managing the updates that were needed to the previous assessment work to ensure the scheme would meet all the necessary legislative requirements.

The next big challenge was around ground engineering. It was necessary to look at the whole of the site, which had a complex heritage of former industrial uses, and to ensure the ground was safely prepared for habitation. We worked carefully within a strategy that dictated a net zero removal of material from the site to lessen any environmental impact of the development.

We used a cut/fill balance approach across the site, to clear the top few metres of ground, filter out any hazards to construction, and replace the material as balanced ground upon which development could more easily be carried out. We also removed deeper obstructions locally as required.

Despite its large scale, the site itself is relatively constrained, located between a mainline railway, busy commuter highways and the River Irwell. This created its own challenges, including liaising closely with Network Rail where construction is taking place close to the railway arches.

We managed these negotiations on behalf of the client. Structurally blocks are connected via elevated podiums, which generate neat below-ground car parking and create the sense of a green community, with cars hidden beneath the ground.

Value

Buro Happold’s multidisciplinary team of experts provided support to the client across the regeneration of this formerly forgotten corner of Salford. From the critical ground engineering to consultancy around sustainability and ecology, through to civil and structural engineering as the development has taken shape phase by phase.

The EIA work carried out by our team secured planning consent for an adjoining plot of land that had not been included in previous designs, and proved critical to shaping a new urban precinct that will both respect and enhance its environment.

Featuring housing, offices, retail facilities and improved access to the canal, the Middlewood Locks development will create a thriving new neighbourhood for Salford.