Estate is home to revolution

Deborah Linton

November 16, 2007

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Islington Isis DATE CREATED: 28/07/2006

A MASSIVE regeneration project breathing new life into a notorious Manchester estate has been named among the most exciting in the country.

The New Islington scheme, which is transforming the derelict Cardroom Estate, in east Manchester, into a hub of trendy homes and modern village living, has been singled out in a study commissioned by insurance giants Zurich.

The Living Britain report, which examines the key forces and trends shaping 21st century Britain, identified the development, being built around the area's canal network, as a `revolutionary' inner city regeneration scheme.

Acclaimed developers Urban Splash are working alongside New East Manchester Ltd and English Partnerships to deliver the ten-year programme to convert the 31-acre patch, including the former Ancoats Hospital site, the former St Jude's primary school and much disused industrial property, into 1,700 new homes, with offices shops and restaurants.

The work in progress will incorporate `fingers' of green space and parkland, a primary school and a health clinic, and has been held-up by the independent study as a leading example of reclaiming inner city space.

Nick Johnson, deputy chief executive at Urban Splash, said: "From the start, our plans for New Islington have been ambitious and it is great that the scheme has been recognised in such a high profile report.

"I think the success we have enjoyed there so far - although we've still got a long way to go - shows what can be achieved when you set your building and design standards uncompromisingly high."

Work to transform the down-at-heel 1970s estate, near Sportcity, started in 2002. New Islington - which comprises 20 individual development plots and is named after the area's original title of Islington - is part of the government's Millennium Communities' Programme launched in 1997 to achieve energy efficient, environmentally-friendly developments across the country.

Tom Russell, chief executive of New East Manchester, said: "We are very proud of what is being created in New Islington and are pleased to be recognised in this report.

"What we are trying to achieve in this part of east Manchester is quite unique and very special and wouldn't be possible without a strong partnership between ourselves, English Partnerships, Urban Splash and Great Places Housing Group and the tremendous support from the local community. We all share the same vision and together we are making it a reality."

The Zurich report, which was released at the end of October and identified a `quiet renaissance' of communities and social values across the UK, also praised The Lowry for bringing art into the suburbs and picked-out the Tea Cake Tuesday club, set up by students at the University of Manchester, as an example of a tea room revival.

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yakketysmak, hattersley (16/11/2007 at 13:58)

Great more expensive housing! When will they make new houses that the average person can afford!

ace, manchester (16/11/2007 at 14:35)

The city of appartments and very expensive homes that people cannot afford. the whole thing is designed for money people to invest into."buy to rent land" Back to the old days when we had landlords with massive amount of properties.COME TO MANCHESTER TO SEE THE SLUMS OF THE VERY NEAR FUTURE.

Black Flag (16/11/2007 at 14:55)

Ace, as long as land is viewed as private property, the situtation will never change. If we had a land value tax, paid by the holder of the land (as shown on the land register) and set at the rental value of the land, there would be nothing to be gained from property speculation and homes would become more affordable.

Henry Piggot-Smythe, Prestbury (16/11/2007 at 15:24)

The trouble with affordable housing is that it makes it affordable to the poor people on council estates and their rowdy children. Who the people that are prepared to make the most from their free state education and thus acquire well paying employment are trying to flee from for some peace and quiet in their lives. Make any development completely affordable to all and you're just back to square one and the creation of even more ASBO ridden ghetto's.

ace, manchester (16/11/2007 at 15:28)

Black Flag
That will never be mate. as the royals own most of britains land? So we will never get that passed,as the royals always win.Even when your land is freehold the gravel and the mining rites still belong to the monarchy?

Black Flag (16/11/2007 at 15:50)

Ace, irrespective of whether or not your land is freehold, it is still the property of the sovereign.

I think it is right that land is publicly owned, but the fact that nobody is charged for using it is a total waste of a publicly owned resource. Most people would be outraged if we allowed companies to take North Sea Oil for free. We should have the same attitude towards our land.

You're right about the aristocracy resisting land taxation. It was in Winston Churchill's "People's Budget" in 1911, but the Tory dominated House of Lords blocked it, the only time the Lords has ever blocked a budget.

ace, manchester (16/11/2007 at 17:16)

Black Flag
The northsea oil was taken from us we could have had cheap fuel but it was leased to foreign companies and we then sold all the oil abroad to get money? to buy oil from other countries at double the cost (british gov ways of doing business that suits everybody exept the britts)

BluePolarBear, ex of Stockport (18/11/2007 at 00:27)

Yep we really screwed up when we stopped building council houses..Manchester has become a yuppie paradise..with city centre living priced beyond the reach of the average person..Nothing is done for the working class these days.My parents,hard working factory workers (dad was skilled worker,so not badly off)..would not have been able to acheive a similar standard of living today.The whole property fiasco is leading towards a new class system.Ace is spot on when he talks about the landlords and companies making huge profits..its what the system is geared towards now.No political party fights the power,and voting is becoming less and less important..only the money seems to matter now.

donna (20/11/2007 at 06:44)

How the hell are these people getting all these awards, the telly tubby homes on the new islington estate are a disgrace, they have numerous problems and no the people living in them are not happy they have only been built 2 years and already they have had 3 nw boilers in each home windows falling out and are leaking in rain not to mention in some of these houses the stairs are coming away from the wall, how come non of thse things are ever mentioned in your articles.
another thing we do not want all these high rise apartments we have enough already that have been standing empty for up to 10 years you need to fill these up first and stop knocking down our lovely homes to build these poorly built shambles.

The Bobelesque (20/11/2007 at 11:49)

I remember when they built the estate opposite Ancoats Hospital (where I was born). They said the same thing. Give it 10 years and it will be back to being a filthy crime-ridden scum, infested by the sick, lame and lazy.Manchester's problem isn't it's infrastructure - it is its residents. The trailer park trash have taken over. Time to move to Malta.

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