Formerly an ironworks first established in 1908 and occupying a historically significant position on the Ashton Canal – a waterway that once defined the industrial identity of East Manchester – the site has since fallen into disrepair with its buildings overgrown and disconnected from the surrounding streets. The proposals restore connectivity and community life to this stretch of the canal with a new neighbourhood at Crabtree Lane that will deliver 194 dwellings from one and two-bedroom apartments up to four-bedroom houses, with a total of 62 affordable homes (32%).
A series of north-south streets provide intimate clusters of homes arranged around landscaped open green spaces, with four apartment buildings sitting along the northern street directly addressing the Ashton Canal and establishing active, well-overlooked frontages to the towpath. At four storeys, their massing draws reference from the industrial warehouses that characterise this stretch of waterway, whilst to the south, the buildings step down through three-storey townhouses and two-storey terraced homes, responding sensitively to the context beyond.
