Delivering Manchester’s £51m Housing Infrastructure Fund works programme

We join a multi-disciplinary consulting and contracting team, which has been assembled to support the delivery of key infrastructure works that will unlock the early residential development potential within the Victoria North regeneration area.

Last year, we supported the Council’s successful bid for £51.6m from the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund. The funds will be used to address a series of up-front infrastructure requirements, that will facilitate the delivery of more than 5,500 new homes up to 2035 – 1,000 of which will be for affordable rent and sale – along with a new (circa 5ha) City River Park.

Our newly appointed project and cost management team will work closely with the Council and Far East Consortium’s development and masterplanning team to deliver the development vision for Red Bank and New Town neighbourhoods.

The HIF infrastructure scheme will support a programme of infrastructure investment and deliver a series of up-front, 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), creating a destination green space that celebrates the Irk River valley 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.

Social impact was an important element of the procurement exercise, which requires contractors to delivery social benefit outcomes in local communities, particularly the areas impacted by the delivery of the HIF programme.

A carbon strategy is also being developed to support the delivery of the programme to limit the carbon footprint of development and following completion. This commitment is part of the Council’s overall target to become a zero-carbon city by 2038.

The HIF investment represents part of the early phase works of the Strategic Regeneration Framework for Victoria North, which will deliver up to 15,000 new homes while rejuvenating brownfield and under-utilised land over the next 15 years. The detailed design process for the HIF infrastructure works is now underway and an initial planning application is expected in spring 2022.

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.”

Director Robert Paterson said:

The Victoria North regeneration is a strategically significant project for the people and communities of Manchester.

"We are delighted to be leading the team on project and cost management, having already helped secure the HIF funding for the scheme. This infrastructure enabling programme of works is the first phase in delivering over 15,000 new homes to the city over the next 15 years and has green and inclusive placemaking at its heart.”

This appointment further cements our expertise in regeneration and placemaking. We are already working with Homes England through its Development Monitoring and Management Services and Multi-Disciplinary Frameworks. Through these, we are helping to deliver major projects to unlock new homes at Meridian Water, London, and supporting the planning of new communities at West of Ifield in West Sussex and at various sites across the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.