Manchester City Council and joint venture partner Far East Consortium (FEC) have selected the team to deliver infrastructure works for the Victoria North regeneration scheme
The newly appointed team – with BAM Nuttall as lead design and build contractor, and Arup as lead designer – will work closely with the council and FEC’s development and masterplanning team to deliver the Victoria North development vision for Red Bank and New Town neighbourhoods.
The project successfully secured £51.6m from the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF).
The HIF infrastructure scheme will deliver a series of strategic infrastructure requirements and address a range of site constraints that will hinder future development.
The key elements of the HIF scheme include:
- Investment in a new City River Park (c.5ha) along the Irk River Valley, creating a destination green space that celebrates the river and provides new, open space for residents.
- Facilitating access to development sites by connecting them to the existing highway network, along with general road upgrades.
- Securing and clearing undeveloped brownfield land, including the removal of contaminated land and invasive plant species to ready sites for development.
- Connect development sites to utilities (electricity, water and surface water drainage), including new high voltage electricity cabling and substations.
- Delivering flood defence works to reduce the risk and extent of flood zones.
The full project team includes:
- Main design & build contractor – BAM Nuttall
- Lead designer – Arup (working with BAM)
- Flood defence works contractor – Volkerstevin
- Landscape architect – Planit IE
- Project delivery consultant – Turner and Townsend
- Lead technical advisor – Pell Frischmann
- Planning consultant – Avison Young
‘Nothing short of transformational’
Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “The impact of this programme of work cannot be underestimated, and without this funding the potential of the Victoria North regeneration programme could not be realised.
“This early phase of the scheme alone will support the delivery of more than 5,500 new homes – many of them for affordable rent and sale – along with a new City River Park.
“This is nothing short of transformational, bringing life and purpose to a long-overlooked part of our city, while celebrating the Irk Valley properly, possibly for the first ever time.”
Gareth Farrier, BAM Nuttall’s divisional director, Scotland & Northern England, commented: “BAM Nuttall is proud to be involved in this collaboration with Manchester City Council and their stakeholders, alongside our design partner Arup.
“This opportunity allows us to combine our expertise at the very early stages of the project to help maximise the impact of the Victoria North Strategic Regeneration Framework.
“Our extensive experience spans delivery of infrastructure enabling works and the development of award winning attractive public spaces to benefit communities, including Kings Cross, Nine Elms and London’s 2012 Olympic Park.
“We look forward to unlocking the full potential of the Manchester Northern Gateway with our partners, as we prepare the ground for one of the largest regeneration projects in the UK.”
The detailed design process for the HIF infrastructure works is now underway on the Victoria North scheme and an initial planning application is expected in Spring 2022.
