Ideas wanted for empty East Manchester site

Urban regeneration company New East Manchester (NEM), Manchester-based developer Urban Splash and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) have launched a competition to find a temporary use for an empty piece of land on the New Islington site in east Manchester.

The initiative, in conjunction with Property Week magazine’s ‘Site Life’ campaign, is asking people to put forward a “visually attractive” idea to breathe new life into the area.

The temporary use will remain in place for one year while other parts of the New Islington site are developed. The land ear-marked is square, flat, and approximately 0.7 acres in size.

Tom Bloxham, Chairman of Urban Splash, said: “New Islington was an area filled with poor quality housing and disused public spaces; one of the most rundown areas in Manchester. Now it is somewhere that is beginning to change.

“The aim of the competition is to find somebody with a short-term project that can complement these efforts. We want designs with vision, ambition and most of all somebody who can deliver something that is going to make an impact on the area as a whole.”

Eddie Smith, chief executive of New East Manchester said: “New Islington is starting to take shape. Within the next few months, the final pieces of public realm will be constructed with £4.4m of NWDA funding, allowing the public into the park and canal boats into the newly created marina.

“We recognise it’s an ambitious long-term regeneration scheme which is clearly facing the challenges of the current economic climate. It’s great that Urban Splash is providing this opportunity which will make the most of this prominent, cleared site while it awaits development.”

Bloxham and Smith are among the judges and entries can be submitted via email to sitelife@propertyweek.com before 27 August 2010. You might also want to read this article from 9 March this year, cclick here.