Working on behalf of Far East Consortium (FEC), the developer behind Manchester’s Victoria North joint venture partnership with Manchester City Council, an outline planning application for a new and wild neighbourhood for Manchester driven by Maccreanor Lavington’s Urban Studio and Copenhagen practice Schulze+Grassov has just been submitted. The masterplan will regenerate the 17 ha largely brownfield site just behind Manchester Victoria Station.
The Red Bank Masterplan is a transformative project aiming to turn a currently underused part of Manchester into a unique neighbourhood that combines the wilderness of the riverside park setting and the metropolitan urbanity of Central Manchester.
The project will deliver a residential-led mixed-use neighbourhood with social and green infrastructure that will be one of the most desirable places to visit or live in Manchester, with approval sought for up to 3,250 homes within the outline application and 1,551 within a related detailed application. The masterplan forms part of the first phase of the Victoria North project that aims to deliver 15,000 homes.
The project has been developed around the concept of “Wild Urbanism” that merges nature and city life by bringing the Irk Valley into the city and flowing the city back to the valley. This “wild urbanism” will offer the naturalised River Irk, the extended existing St Catherine’s Wood and a myriad of other interconnected green spaces to Mancunians. Cafes, restaurants, shops, community spaces and homes will be set among the nature to bring a dose of urbanity to the wilderness.
Kevin Logan, (Director of ML Urban Studio) and Oliver Schulze (Schulze+Grassov) are both graduates of the Manchester School of Architecture, where they met in the 1990’s. Having built international careers developing highly respected architecture and urban design studios in Rotterdam and Copenhagen, they are now bringing their international experience back home to Manchester, where their journey to become architects and urban designers began.
Kevin Logan, Director of ML’s Urban Studio commented: “Wild Urbanism is a concept uniting the wilderness of the re-naturalised post-industrial landscape with the urbanity of the metropolitan world directly adjoining it. Filled with hard-working wild nature, Red Bank will be a place to live for all creatures, human or otherwise. Alongside this wilderness, social, community and commercial infrastructure will support a thriving residential neighbourhood to foster an active, local and resilient urban dwelling’.
Oliver Schulze, Co-founder at Schulze+Grassov said: “Cities the world over are looking to build more sustainable urban communities as we become more aware of the impact that modern lifestyles have on our natural world. Our goal is to transform this site into Manchester’s best urban district, where a great public realm will invite people to live, work, and enjoy life in Manchester’s city centre.”
FEC project director Hilary Brett said: “. Red Bank is a unique area of the city, with the existing natural assets of the River Irk and St Catherine’s Wood, as well as being home to some fantastic businesses in the railway arches. There is huge opportunity to enhance what already exists and to create a vibrant neighbourhood. We want to integrate and re-connect Red Bank with the city centre to transform the area into a desirable place to live and visit. Our proposals are the outcome of over 18 months of design development and community engagement, and we hope the plans are positively received.”
