Plans to transform Salford Soapworks into new 'riverside community' with hundreds of homes re-submitted
Plans to construct hundreds of new homes and a transport hub at Salford Soapworks have been re-submitted to Salford City Council, with developers saying they want to create a new 'riverside community'
Plans for a £200 million regeneration to transform Salford Soapworks business park into a riverside community have been re-submitted.
The new plans will look to add nearly 500 new contemporary homes within three buildings, to the business park on Colgate Lane.
The proposal will look to add 50 more homes than the original plans, with three tower blocks, varying in height from 10 to 33 storeys, replacing the current surface parking lot.
The first phase of the plan involves converting an existing warehouse into 78 affordable homes, alongside 60,000 square feet of office space, and leisure and gym facilities. The proposed transport hub would feature a multi-storey car park with over 900 parking spaces, accommodating electric vehicles and cycle hubs.
The transport hub will also provide 9,500 sq ft of low-tech, flexible start-up incubator space, which would “foster innovation and partnership” according to planning documents.
A riverside park pavilion, previously in phase one’s plans, will also now be considered as part of the second phase’s outline application.
The business park is owned by the Greater Manchester Pension Fund and was bought for £60 million in 2017, taking ownership of the converted office space that had transformed the factory grounds in 2014.
The former Colgate Palmolive Factory ceased operations in 2005, and has been described as one of the “North West’s most iconic commercial regeneration projects.”
The fund released images of the proposed plans earlier this year, with a spokesperson sharing the appeal the developments would have locally and internationally.
As the spokesperson said: “The proposals have been sensitively designed to transform this brownfield site in need of regeneration into a vibrant mixed-use neighbourhood that will support Salford’s diverse and growing population.”
Salford is forecasted to have the fastest percentage growth in the Greater Manchester region in the next 20 years, and the plans will look to match the exciting development of the plans for the future.
Information on the project’s planning application can be found on Salford City Council’s planning portal under PA/2023/0435 application reference.