This project adjacent to Manchester’s city center aims to regenerate the former Cardroom housing estate, which itself was an urban renewal effort in the 1970's to reclaim an abandoned industrial sector. Poor planning contributed to the demise of Cardroom Estate, but a bold new framework by Alsop hopes to learn from the past while looking forward.
The area has been re-dubbed New Islington, and a new splashy flashy website (as noted at Archinect) details the concept for the new project and history of the neighborhood. Sustainability and context is the name of the game.
Link: New Islington
Designer: Alsop
Developer: Urban Splash
Reference: Urban Splash (Land+Living)
The project is currently under construction, and features a new curving central canal (re-connecting two historic waterways) provides recreational opportunities and wetlands. Gardens and main structures radiate as "fingers" from the canal. This kind of connections with the existing urban fabric sets the new plan apart from the former estate which was based on an internalized plan. A new tram line with a stop adjacent to New Islington will further connect the neighborhood to the city center.
Most of the square footage will be a residential: a mix of apartments, lofts, terraced houses; and a mix of private rent, owner occupied, social rent and shared ownership. But the mix of uses is key and includes commercial space (office, shop, restaurant), a school, clinic, public open space, and wildlife habitat (wet woodland, damp grassland, wetlands and reedbeds).
A range of architectural firms have been engaged to design the various structures within the plan, with Alsop designing one of the proposed residential buildings.
Screenshots from the New Islington website (below):
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