Evaluation

In line with English Partnerships' Quality and Price Standards for housing schemes, the development has been designed to meet the Eco Homes 'very good' rating and to score positively against at least 14 of the 20 Building For Life criteria. Indeed, it should score well under BFL for its use of advances in construction technology, its contribution to the community and its accessibility to local services and transport. There is a Metrolink stop a short walk away (on South Langworthy Road) and bus stops on Eccles New Road. This makes Salford and Manchester city centres and Salford Quays very accessible from the development. It is a development that Salford City Council has put a great deal of time and effort into bringing forward, not to mention contributing land, and it should add impetus to the regeneration of Central Salford. It should also reinforce the image of Salford as an authority willing to be ambitious about the role of design in urban renewal.

The Chimney Pot Park scheme is particularly notable for the creative contribution it makes to our understanding of how we may adapt existing environments and established urban forms into new, attractive, desirable neighbourhoods. It offers a new way of looking at terraced housing, a typology that is more commonly associated with the 19th than the 21st century and that is subject to low demand in many parts of the country. In so doing, the project demonstrates how retaining the historic character of the urban environment does not have to mean compromising on a design vision, on providing modern, attractive and functional housing, or on good performance against sustainability criteria. As described in Urban Splash's brochure for the development, terraced housing is: 'Familiar, comfortable, flexible and people sized. One of the best ways of keeping rain off we ever came up with'.

Within considerable constraints, both financial and physical, the architects and their clients have used a design-led process, taken the community along with them, and produced a very successful scheme in both urban design and commercial terms. A strong vision has been carried through to delivery, pursued within a wider understanding of the meaning of the scheme as a typological exemplar.

That said, the history of the project is instructive, highlighting where the scheme could perhaps have been even more influential. The decision to demolish all but the front façade of the properties was driven by the effect of VAT on project finances, and in so doing denies us the chance to see what could have been done through retaining almost all the built fabric of a two-up, two-down terraced house. What has been delivered is essentially a new-build scheme behind the front walls of the old houses.

The project, however, should be influential in inspiring others to attempt to refurbish rather than replace similar housing stock. In adjoining parts of Seedley and Langworthy, far more 'light touch' refurbishment and facelift schemes, together with programmes of environmental improvements, have been applied to terraced houses. As is evidenced by Seedley and Langworthy's success in the Northwest In Bloom urban regeneration awards in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and in the Britain In Bloom awards in 2004 and 2006, these houses will be just as viable and vibrant a part of the future of the area as the Chimney Pot Park units.

In social terms, it is too early to measure what the overall effect of the development will be. Regaining a dense residential population should be a positive move and augurs well for the survival of local services and community infrastructure. It is inevitable that there will be newcomers to the area and a change in social composition brings with it certain challenges of integration. The unit costs are among the highest in the area and out of the range of many in a local population whose mean annual household income is £22,240. This underlines the importance of the low-cost home ownership package and wider community infrastructure to the scheme as a whole. Attaining a mixed income community is be important, and is likely to be a consequence of this project, but Salford City Council is equally concerned to provide choice and a mix of house types and sizes. As part of a wider strategic approach, therefore, Chimney Pot Park has a big part to play in contributing to the sustainable communities agenda in Salford.

From an urban design point-of-view, it has also been very successful, marrying what was good about the existing housing layout to measures to address the drawbacks. The simple block structure, with houses directly fronting the street and backs facing backs in a semi-private or private environment, is a tried-and-tested way of achieving a good urban residential layout. What this scheme adds is a way to address the security issues that pertained to the rear alleys and deal with the lack of defensible space and absence of gardens.

The decision to keep cars parked on the street as part of a mixed approach to parking is a positive one for maintaining on-street activity and surveillance, based on the traditional terraced housing model. With that model in mind, it will be interesting to monitor the effect other new design features may have on use of public and private space. In reversing the vertical and horizontal arrangement of space within the property, the focus of activity within the home is shifted to the rear and away from the ground floor/street level. However, the design of the rear deck has the potential to provide an alternative social space that may prove to as vibrant (in a rather different way) from the public street. The possible negative effect of rear parking on street activity has been mitigated by the access arrangements: it is not possible to enter properties from the rear via the parking area, and all access to properties is, therefore, via the front door on the street. Chimney Pot Park shares with many contemporary housing projects the influence of concerns over security and parking. What this project shows, however, is a considered approach to the the form of the public-private boundary that is in keeping with the terraced typology.

The adoption of a design-led strategy has informed not only the physical form of development but also the way people have been involved in it and the way it has been sold to potential residents. Urban Splash's production of attractive sales and technical literature with clear, accurate plans, sections and elevations, presented as a part of a coherent, exciting vision for the place, has helped considerably in raising public profile, marketing the scheme and making it a success. When the first 110 units went on the market, newspapers reported on the queues of hopeful homeowners that began to form 72 hours before the sale opened. Without a doubt, this is high quality housing, but crucially it is popular housing.