Description

The terraced houses in the Seedley and Langworthy area were built around 1910, laid out in a regular terraced grid and adjoining a neighbourhood park to the south. Elevated above street level, Langworthy Park was built on the infill site of a former reservoir, and affords views over the rooftops of the adjacent properties - for this reason, it has been known locally as 'Chimney Pot Park'. Urban Splash's scheme consciously draws on the character of the neighbourhood, appropriating this name for its development. Their intervention is a small part of the wider Seedley and Langworthy area, roughly a five by two block parcel of the terraced housing grid.

Here, Urban Splash and architect shedkm have proposed and delivered radical changes to the internal layout and design of the existing houses, open spaces and streetscape while retaining the original structure and street pattern of the area. The street frontages are the only built elements to be retained. Their brickwork has been cleaned and pointed and they have been provided with new double-glazed timber windows and doors. Behind this façade, all structure is new-build. New roofs incorporate 'chimney roof lights' which approximate the appearance of the old chimney stacks and provide a new, distinctive roofscape from both street and park level.

The mid-terrace houses retain their existing plan and floorspace, while the remaining end-terrace houses and adjacent mid-terraces have been knocked through, combining three houses into two, thereby reducing the total number of properties from 385 to 349. Although all units have two bedrooms, this use of variant end unit configurations provides a greater diversity of house types, with the larger properties having a separate kitchen and more generous proportions. By turning the end units 90 degrees, it also allows for new active frontages to the east-west streets.

The existing properties have been remodelled internally to open up the large volume roof void into a new first floor living space, with a mezzanine level above. Two main variants are provided, one with a kitchen in the mezzanine level, the other with the kitchen incorporated as part of the open-plan first floor living area and the mezzanine as a study/office space. Sleeping areas, bathrooms and storage are at ground floor level in all types. Prefabricated pod bathrooms have been inserted which include a bath sunken into the floor beaneath a removable timber grille shower tray. In spite of the remodelling and thoughtful layout of a small overall floor area, there remains some flexibility in the overall layout, with services incorporated into a single wall adjoining the stair, and the remainder of the space open to a variety of configurations.

At the rear, new balcony structures and rear garden decks have been created, leading out from the first floor. They incorporate a glazed panel to the lightwell below, allowing light to penetrate into the rear ground floor room. The garden decks extend over secure covered parking at ground level, accessible via a gated entrance at the end of the terrace. Around 50% of parking for each block can be accommodated in these covered areas, with the remainder provided on-street. Vehicular access to the street is managed via a bollard system, offering a further level of security to the on-street parking, whilst allowing access for pedestrians and emergency and service vehicles.

The scheme is the first phase of a set of housing interventions and sits within a wider programme of local initiatives. Remodelling of Langworthy Park (also to be known in the future as Chimney Pot Park) has been undertaken at the same time as the housing development, and will make the park visible and accessible from Langworthy Road. The next phases of the Urban Splash scheme are to include new build housing and/or a mixed use scheme on adjacent parcels of land, new-build housing on a small site fronting Highfield Road and a similar 'upside-down' renovation on a further block on the east side of Alder Street. Salford City Council is looking to develop family housing on land to the north and east of the site: two-, three- and possibly four-bed homes. The housing development will also be flanked by new community facilities on Langworthy Road, including a new church, apartments, sports facilities, café and community space. This scheme, by Maccreanor Lavington and Sarah Hare Architects is due to start on site later in 2007.