Salford Chimney Pot Park Urban Splash launch
Urban Splash Chimney Pot Park poster Langworthy Road
Chimney Pot Park is the Urban Splash project in Salford in which run down Victorian terraced houses will be refurbished using a revolutionary ‘upside down’ layout. It’s named after the park adjoining the site.
The public launch took place in Chimney Pot Park on Saturday 8 April. Those interested in buying properties were able to register. Many had camped out for 48 hours or more, or paid others to do so.
There has been huge interest in the project, due to the involvement of Urban Splash and because this district of Salford - Langworthy - has been in the news, but not for good reasons.
In the late nineties, the area had deteriorated due to changing economic circumstances. Property prices were plummeting, people were moving out, houses were being abandoned and boarded up, crime was increasing. It seemed the only solution was to demolish the entire district and start again.
Then Urban Splash came up with a proposal to refurbish the houses, with a radical change of layout. The bedroom would be on the ground floor, with the living room and kitchen area upstairs.
State of construction 9 April 2006
Construction has only started recently, and on Sunday 9 April I went to take a look for myself. I took photos from Chimney Pot Park. It’s clear that this is more than just a conversion job. The entire innards of the houses have been removed, leaving only the brick facades. The empty space will be filled with new contemporary style dwellings, which will use the old house frontages as their outer skin.
It’s an inspired solution, and will hopefully be the catalyst for a wave of regeneration throughout Langworthy.
Prices start at just under £99,500, with priority given to local residents or people with local connections. The first houses should be completed in early 2007. For more information, go to www.chimneypotpark.co.uk
Background: Chimney Pot Park is unusual because it’s around 10 to 15 feet above street level, with brick retaining walls on all sides. In fact, it was once a municipal reservoir which was later turned into a park. It’s called Chimney Pot Park, they say, because you have a view over the chimney pots.
These houses are terraced homes built in the late 19th century. They are not ‘back to backs’ as referred to in the Urban Splash documentation. These houses have windows to the rear, and back yards separated by a passage. True back to backs date from earlier in the Industrial Revolution era, and were built with a rear wall as well as a side wall. They were the true ’slums’ and nearly all of them have been demolished.
Barbie Promotion Ash St 1997
The Chimney Pot Park houses are similar to countless terraced homes all over Manchester and the UK. If located in Wilmslow or London, they would be worth a small fortune.
Chimney Pot Park is located about one and three quarter miles (3km) west of Manchester City Centre in the Langworthy area of Salford, part of the Salford City Council area.
In 1997, Ash Street was used in a promotion for Barbie dolls. With the co-operation of local residents, the street was painted entirely in pink. Models in Barbie outfits posed for the camera (including mine). It was hoped that the publicity would help to bring about regeneration of the area.
10 years later, the area is changing, but in a way no-one could have imagined. Future entries of the EOM Property Blog will document the construction of the project as it progresses.