Homes Coming To Former Manchester Racecourse Site

Developer Salboy, and its construction arm Domis, have started construction of a new 500-home urban village on the edge of Manchester.

Named Castle Irwell, The £120million development is on a swoop of land bounded by the River Irwell that was once the site of Manchester Racecourse and more latterly the University of Salford student village.

It is a legacy development for Salboy co-founder Fred Done, who worked at the racecourse in its heyday and who went on to found independent bookmakers BetFred.

Designed by Calderpeel Architects the contemporary housing will be arranged in neighbourly courtyards with a central village green providing more than three acres of landscaped open space for residents.

The emphasis will be on walking and cycling rather than cars with Manchester city centre a 15-minute bike ride away and easily accessed by public transport.

The first phase of development will bring 157 family homes, offering two, three or four bedrooms with prices starting from £199,500. The government’s Help to Buy scheme will be available to help people make the step into homeownership.

Simon Ismail, who co-founded Salboy with Fred, said: “This is a location with huge personal history to us both and we want to create a very special place to live. It will be a place for people who work in the city but want a home to own with more space to enjoy and nature on the doorstep. It is exciting to be releasing the first homes for sale and being able to share the vision of Castle Irwell and for people to be able to be part of the next stage of its history.”

Castle Irwell sits just 15 minutes from Manchester city centre on the edge of Kersal Vale Country Park and wetlands offering nature within reach of the city. The site’s only remaining building – the Grade II listed Turnstile Building on Cromwell Road – is being restored and converted to create a spacious marketing suite and buyers will be allocated personal appointments to view the site plan and many different house options while learning more about the history of the site.

The first reservations are being taken next month and already there has been a high level of interest in the first homes to be released for sale.

Ismail added: “Few people realise that there is the natural diversity and wildlife of the urban wetlands and the woods of Kersal Vale so close to the economic centres of Salford and Manchester.

“Castle Irwell will be a contemporary new village, well-designed, high-quality housing where as much thought has been given to the surroundings and how people want to live now as the house design, with flexible space inside and lots of green space outside.

“This type of housing so close to the city centre will allow young professionals to move out a little bit and put down roots and start a family in lovely surroundings without having to compromise with a massive commute.”

Find out more about Castle Irwell from Salboy.

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