A new Riverside Quarter
The masterplan for a new neighbourhood, Ordsall Riverside in Salford, aims to avoid piecemeal development and to create a vibrant mixed use waterfront quarter providing continued employment opportunities and riverside living. ByHugo Nowell
The masterplan advocates an integrated approach taking full advantage of the River Irwell, a tremendous natural asset, and proposes a new residential quarter alongside the river. The area will be developed as a coherent series of blocks providing good connections to the river, with a consistent frontage to both Ordsall Lane and the riverside.
Proposals include:
- A pedestrian bridge, ‘Cornbrook Bridge’, connecting the riverside. The bridge will link to a new public space, Ordsall Place, at the junction of Ordsall Lane, West Park Street and Oldfield Road
- A riverside park, ‘Ordsall Quayside’, overlooked by new residential development and providing a riverside setting for sitting and relaxing
The Ordsall Riverside masterplan aims to:
- manage the transformation of Ordsall Riverside from industrial and employment uses to a mixed-use area
- create a new residential quarter alongside the river that offers a choice of high quality homes of all tenures and a mix of apartments and family housing;
- consolidate and strengthen the Exchange Quay corporate office development at the southern end of the Ordsall Riverside and provide a new hard paved public square that will serve as a focus for the area;
- encourage small businesses to cluster within the area, with easy access to public transport;
- provide a limited range of facilities including local shops, bars and leisure opportunities, including Irwell City Park riverside walkway, that will bring vibrancy and life to the area;
- establish a network of safe, pedestrian-friendly streets and spaces that open up access to the riverside;
- provide a distinctive riverside setting with new development benefiting from tremendous views of the river and providing active frontages and overlooking onto the riverside walkway;
- enhance the setting of the Grade I listed Ordsall Hall and open up views towards the hall from the riverside;
- provide a new pedestrian bridge across the River Irwell linking both the Ordsall neighbourhood and the riverside area with Cornbrook Metrolink station and the excellent public transport service that this station offers; and
- transform Ordsall Lane into an attractive tree-lined street that is easy to cross and is fronted by new development.
The Ordsall Riverside is within multiple private ownerships, a potential barrier to achieving a coherent development across the area. In order to overcome this, the masterplan provides design guidelines to ensure that, as sites come forward for development, they all contribute to the creation of a distinctive place
The Ordsall Riverside area, covering an area of 30 hectares, was formerly part of Salford’s docks and, more recently, home to a mix of light industry and smaller business uses. Significant change is anticipated within the next decade as the area has been attracting considerable developer interest.
Urban Initiatives were commissioned by Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company and Salford City Council to prepare a masterplan for Ordsall Riverside. Its focus is the strip of land between Ordsall Lane and the River Irwell/Manchester Ship Canal, extending from Trafford Road in the southwest to Regent Road in the north. The River Irwell forms the legislative boundary between Salford City Council and the neighbouring Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council and Manchester City Council. All three authorities recognise that the river is an under utilised resource, and are working together, alongside Central Salford URC, to develop a shared vision, focused on the creation of a linear riverside park, Irwell City Park.
It was recognised that, as well as being an asset, the river is also a significant barrier to movement preventing access to neighbourhoods and facilities to the east, particularly Cornbrook Metrolink station. The masterplan proposes a new bridge, linking to the Metrolink station. Connections will also be made through the Ordsall Riverside area to the neighbouring Ordsall neighbourhood to the west in the form of ‘green fingers’ – tree-lined pedestrian routes. These connections are fundamental to the integration of new development with the existing and ensure that Ordsall’s residents will benefit from the regeneration.
Key to the masterplan process has been the focus on viability and delivery. Approaches to development and the issues to be tackled are not uniform across the masterplan area, and so a number of character areas were identified as part of the analysis of the existing context (visible on the plan overleaf). In addition, a number of options were developed and appraised to ensure that proposals met both the planning and design objectives, as well as being financially deliverable.
The masterplan has been developed as an inclusive process. This has been achieved through presentations to the Ordsall Community Forum, workshop sessions with stakeholders, including landowners and developers, and one-to-one meetings with key stakeholders.
Salford City Council has used the masterplan as a basis for Ordsall Riverside planning guidance. It is intended that this will help to ensure that private sector development proposals contribute to the implementation of the masterplan.
Hugo Nowell is an associate director of urban design at Urban Initiatives. Urban Initiatives was Regeneration Consultant of the year in 2006
Project details
Ordsall Riverside Masterplan and Planning Guidance
Client: Salford City Council and Central Salford Urban Regeneration Company
Design team: Urban Initiatives, ARUP, Keppie Massie, Davis Langdon
Contact: Rachel Hamilton, Urban Initiatives www.urbaninitiatives.co.uk
