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Approval for Chapman Taylor’s £1bn Salford MediaCity UK expansion

A team of architects led by Chapman Taylor has been given the go-ahead to double the size of Salford’s MediaCity UK

The second stage of the scheme features 10 new buildings, of which almost three quarters are earmarked for private rented sector (PRS) housing.

Chapman Taylor is working with six other firms, including Sheppard Robson, AHR Architects, Hodder + Partners and Jeffrey Bell Architects, on the proposed £1 billion expansion of the waterfront complex.

The first phase of MediaCity UK – also delivered by ‘masterplan guardian’ Chapman Taylor – was completed six years ago and houses 250 businesses including the BBC, ITV and Ericsson.

Backed by the Peel Group with Legal and General Capital, the development also includes multi-storey parking, a bicycle hub and a pedestrian promenade running through the site.

Chapman Taylor director Tim Partington said the massive scheme would help ‘boost the Northern Powerhouse’, adding: ‘MediaCityUK is already a leading international hub for the creative and digital sectors, a centre of learning and a visitor destination.

’Phase two will bring a new residential community supported by high-quality public realm, leisure and retail facilities, ensuring that the development is a sustainable urban neighbourhood and an exemplar for the 21st century.’

As well as the new homes, the plans feature a ‘crystalline’ 17-storey office tower designed by Sheppard Robson.

Describing the design of the 35,000m² block, a spokesman for the practice said: ‘The building’s distinctive shape has been designed to negotiate its complex urban setting, with the crystalline form – which changes depending on the angle it’s viewed from – creating varying sizes of flexible floorplate.’

AHR is working on two waterside apartment blocks with views over the Manchester Ship Canal. The first of these, The Lightbox, is due to start construction in early 2017.