Team appointed to deliver £51m Housing Infrastructure Fund works – including new City River Park

A multi-disciplinary consulting and contracting team has been assembled to support the delivery of key infrastructure works that will unlock the early residential development potential within the Victoria North regeneration area – Manchester’s largest ever regeneration project.Last year, a joint bid between Manchester City Council and its joint venture partner Far East Consortium (FEC) successfully secured £51.6m from the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF). The funding will be used to address a series of up-front infrastructure requirements to facilitate the delivery of more than 5,500 new homes in the next 10-15 years – 1,000 of which will be for affordable rent and sale – along with a new (circa 5ha) public City River Park. The newly appointed team – with BAM Nuttall as lead design and build contractor, and Arup as lead designer – will work closely with the Council and Far East Consortium’s development and masterplanning team to deliver the development vision for Red Bank and New Town neighbourhoods. The HIF infrastructure scheme will support a programme of infrastructure investment and deliver a series of up-front, strategic infrastructure requirements and address a range of site constraints that will hinder future development. The key elements of the HIF scheme include: Investment in a new City River Park (c.5ha) along the Irk River Valley, creating a destination green space that celebrates the river and provides new, open space for residents. Facilitating access to development sites by connecting them to the existing highway network, along with general road upgrades. Securing and clearing undeveloped brownfield land, including the removal of contaminated land and invasive plant species to ready sites for development. Connect development sites to utilities (electricity, water and surface water drainage), including new high voltage electricity cabling and substations. Delivering flood defence works to reduce the risk and extent of flood zones. Social impact was an important element of the procurement exercise, which requires contractors to deliver social benefit outcomes in local communities, particularly the areas impacted by the delivery of the HIF programme. A Carbon Management Plan is also being developed to support the delivery of the programme to limit the carbon footprint of construction and use by the development. The project will adopt PAS2080, the first global standard for managing infrastructure carbon, to reduce carbon and costs through intelligent design, construction and use. The detailed design process for the HIF infrastructure works is now underway and an initial planning application is expected in Spring 2022. The HIF investment represents part of the early phase works of the Strategic Regeneration Framework for Victoria North, which will deliver up to 15,000 new homes while rejuvenating brownfield and underutilised land over the next 15 years.