Manchester’s Ancoats is undergoing a residential-led boom with developer Manchester Life at the forefront. Eric Wright Group has secured a contract haul of nearly £120m to deliver some of these projects: Place North West took a tour of the area with Eric Wright Construction’s managing director, John Wilson, to see the emerging and completed schemes first hand.
The Ancoats of today looks significantly different to the area even five years ago and is now forming itself as a destination. The likes of Seven Brothers and Rudy’s are pulling in the punters and have recently been joined by Sugo Pasta Kitchen’s second outlet and Pollen Bakery.
The rapid regeneration of the area has drawn these businesses here with a boom in construction activity making it one of the city’s residential hotspots.
Among the busiest contractors here is Eric Wright Group, which is currently delivering five separate residential schemes, and has also completed three in the last 12 months. Combined, these projects have a contract value of more than £119m and provide 673 new homes.
Place North West’s tour of the area starts with Islington Wharf Phase Three, a scheme set to complete in March 2019. Designed by Ryder Architecture, this features 101 properties including 17 townhouses and six duplexes, and forms the second part of a wider project; Eric Wright completed the first phase, a 46-home low-rise scheme, in December last year.
Islington Wharf is being developed by Waterside Places, a joint venture between Muse Developments and the Canal & River Trust.
The tour then follows to Vesta, a Manchester Life scheme designed by architect Rafael Vinoly. This is the largest of the schemes, which has the highest number of apartments at 171. Overlooking the canal basin and commanding views of the city, the concrete-frame build is set to complete in February 2020. Apartments here are for private sale.
Manchester Life, a venture between Manchester City Council and Manchester City’s owner Abu Dhabi United Group, has three preferred contractors – Graham, Eric Wright, and Sisk. Graham is currently busy delivering a Buttress-designed residential project of 201 apartments just across from Vesta.
Across the canal basin – where fellow contractor Sisk has completed two separate apartment blocks for Manchester Life, one of which will be home to Cask’s second pub in Manchester on the ground floor – Eric Wright is also undertaking a significantly challenging project at New Little Mill.
This scheme, designed by PRP will see the contractor retain the façade of the listed mill that sits on the site, whilst building a new residential scheme inside. The façade has already been secured with a maze of scaffolding and concrete has been poured inside to make the building structurally sound before the steel-framed new-build structure can be erected within. This is due to complete by December 2020, and it features 68 apartments.
Further along at Cotton Square, work is also nearing completion at a 23-home scheme for developer Step Places. Eric Wright stepped in on the project after the original contractor, Harbur Construction, entered administration last year, and is set to complete by the end of 2018. This also includes the retention of a heritage asset – in this case, the Edinburgh Castle pub and will also feature a commercial unit at ground floor level.
