this out from urban splash this afternoon...images on website look great.

It’s the terraced house Jim, but not as we know it!

Urban Splash has received a phenomenal 2 500 enquiries from the public to buy one of its upside down terraced houses at Chimney Pot Park, Langworthy, Salford, which go on sale from 10am to 6pm on Saturday 8 April 06 at Langworthy Park, Langworthy Road, Salford.

We’re installing a special sales centre in Langworthy Park, right next door to the site, which will be open from 10am to 5pm from Monday 3 April to Friday 7 April. People can pop down to see the plans and the model, pick up a brochure and full price list – all to help them decide on which house they would like to buy. You can even peak over the fence and take a bird’s eye view of progress on site. Prices for the houses at Chimney Pot Park will go live on www.chimneypotpark.co.uk from Saturday 1 April 06.

And for those intrepid folk who want to queue early to help make sure they get a house, we’re putting up a special M*A*S*H tent in the park with sleeping facilities and entertainment for the two long nights before the launch itself.

To find out more about Chimney Pot Park, visit www.chimneypotpark.co.uk or call our sales team on 07000 37 37 37.

http://images.primelocation.com/URBNGR/images/URBN999000111.JPG

I'm still luvin it.....

agreed. sold a few to locals and staff and loyalty clients already apparently.

BEWARE OF URBAN [SPL]CASH

ALL THEY WANT IS YOUR MONEY - AT THE EXPENSE OF YOUR COMMUNITY

If 'URBAN SPLASH' have built this new development in Langworthy mainly to house existing local residents after many of their homes were bulldozed after compulsary purchase orders, and the equally worrying fact that we are being priced out of the area totally WHY are Urban Spalsh coming on to the internet advertising their develoment when the demand is far outweighing the supply. This money grabbing yuppy of a company has been doing the same in Colyhurst, ''New Islington'', Chorlton and Hulme. I hope the Salford Advertiser continues it's campaign to expose these theives for what they truley are! Sure, they're new houses may look very nice but who is benefiting overall? It's not the ordinary hard workingh residents of Manchester and Salford I can tell you that.

People of Manchester :poke: Urban Spl(C)ash

I love them terraces. In the long run, everything is to make money.

... in the long run, the 'money' runs out as it is spent by the profiteerers. The Hulme Cresents of the 1960's were built to make money and we all know what happened there.

That's a bit shortsighted spacepostman.

Urban Splash are no different to any other developer working in partnership with local councils in regeneration areas. The alternative to this would be no regeneration and all the same indicators of multiple deprivation that were there before.

Another pic, don't think its been seen on here yet,

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/dirtyred619/chimneypot.jpg

SPACEPOSTMASTER-- Whatever! You're talking absoulute boll*cks!

Didn't you learn anything from school - GENTRIFICATION. Simply building new buildings for the residents of 'Nowheresville' is not going to sort out the local problems - you're just gonnna rehouse the same problems in new houses - 20 years down the line, you'll still have the same problem!

I'm afraid, that if these areas are going to revived in any way then more people need to move into that area - if that means "richer" then so be it - the area will benefit as a whole.

By and large. the scheme intergrates well into the communtity (in my opinion) by not housing the "rich newcomers" in gated skyscraper with no street interaction with the existing residents.

URBAN SPLASH ARE NOT A DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OR GOVERNMENT BODY -they are out to make money - they're a COMPANY - that's what companys do and by and large, this one has ventured into areas most devlopers wouldn't dream of and hats of to them ....they don't owe you squat!! so shut up !

This may sound snobby...but i'm afraid it's just plain home truths...i'd say the "good hard working" citizens of this area are mostly long gone...so i'd rather have rich "yuppies" living in done up terraces in a done up area than the vast scum that currently reside round here!

Too true. I can speak as someone who has lived in several areas of Manchester, mainly south. There is a lot of potentially good-quality housing out there crying out for some TLC. Most of it is 19th or early 20th Century- from 2-bed terraces to large villas. As one who has done much DIY I can tell you that these houses were much better built than todays plasterboard and breeze-block creations, even if they do cost more to heat.

The problem for so many inner districts of Manchester & Salford is that they lost their middle-class population a long-time ago and the housing stock has fallen into the hands of absentee landlords who fill them with students, transient people, or losers of one sort or another. The communities decline and the housing stock decays. Take Withington where I live now - leafy streets, some stunning Victorian houses, but many filled with students or bail-junkies. Urban districts will always be mixed, and that is healthy, it's question of having the right mix. Re-populating with a significant proportion of stable middle-class owner-occupiers is essential to making these places attractive and vibrant again. You need people who are going to care about the environment and community. But here you see the conundrum - how do you get them there in the first place?! Perhaps the unaffordability of Didsbury, Wilmslow etc may force such people to re-look at the inner city with a pioneer spirit. So to sum up - don't knock the yuppies you do need them. And converting well-built , characterful Victorian terraces is infinitely preferable and environmentally sound than demolition.

Looking back at my post reads quite aggressively. That wasn’t the intention and I’m sorry if it’s a bit strong.

Accepted. It's nice to be able to air what is a fairly informed personalopinion without being told to shut up. :)

I thought Withington was quite a desirable area Id like a house there! Looks quite nice around the village shops. Maybe it depends whether you live at the Didsbury or Moss Side end?

Too true. I can speak as someone who has lived in several areas of Manchester, mainly south. There is a lot of potentially good-quality housing out there crying out for some TLC. Most of it is 19th or early 20th Century- from 2-bed terraces to large villas. As one who has done much DIY I can tell you that these houses were much better built than todays plasterboard and breeze-block creations, even if they do cost more to heat.

The problem for so many inner districts of Manchester & Salford is that they lost their middle-class population a long-time ago and the housing stock has fallen into the hands of absentee landlords who fill them with students, transient people, or losers of one sort or another. The communities decline and the housing stock decays. Take Withington where I live now - leafy streets, some stunning Victorian houses, but many filled with students or bail-junkies. Urban districts will always be mixed, and that is healthy, it's question of having the right mix. Re-populating with a significant proportion of stable middle-class owner-occupiers is essential to making these places attractive and vibrant again. You need people who are going to care about the environment and community. But here you see the conundrum - how do you get them there in the first place?! Perhaps the unaffordability of Didsbury, Wilmslow etc may force such people to re-look at the inner city with a pioneer spirit. So to sum up - don't knock the yuppies you do need them. And converting well-built , characterful Victorian terraces is infinitely preferable and environmentally sound than demolition.

Either end you'd be lucky to grab something as a first time buyer - the cost of merely a flat in an ex 'local authority' house in old moat would get you a terrace victorian in levvy. It's a funky little place but the high street is still a stark contrast from diddlesburyville a mile up down the road.
They could start with enforcing bans on those crummy metal shutters which close down the village (which has a really great community) come the evening. Then sort the 'kin mess out that is Cine City (not a massive suprise the dark, dingy back street that is Copson street witnessed a rape a week or so back)...I might be on one...cheeky wine this.

I'm luvin it more each day.



Hello Chris,

Thank you for registering your interest in our Chimney Pot Park houses at Langworthy, Salford. We're all really excited about our upside-down terraced houses and are looking forward to the public sales launch at Langworthy Park (located on Langworthy Road, overlooking the Chimney Pot Park site) on Saturday 8th April 2006.

With prices starting at £99,500 bedrooms are on the ground floor and you can choose between having your kitchen on the mezzanine and your comfy living space on the main floor or cosy up in your lounge in the roof space with the kitchen below, and if that's not enough there's shops around the corner, a Metrolink stop down the road, a park on your door step, and Salford Quays, and Manchester and Salford city centres just minutes away.

So now that we have your details we'll keep you up to date with news on the scheme and in the meantime, keep checking our website www.chimneypotpark.co.uk and feel free to contact our sales team on 07000 37 37 37.

Kind regards,
Urban Splash.


07000 37 37 37
www.urbansplash.co.uk

Subscribe to the Urban Splash newsletter:
http://www.urbansplash.exvn.com/subscribe.cfm

Receive Urban Splash SMS event reminders:
http://www.urbansplash.exvn.com/sms_subscribe.cfm

^^ Crash pad for the city Chris? Upside down house warming party on the cards??

I much prefer the idea of the lounge in the loft, and the kitchen on the same level as the dining area.

I thought Withington was quite a desirable area Id like a house there! Looks quite nice around the village shops. Maybe it depends whether you live at the Didsbury or Moss Side end?


Withington's awful.

Withington's awful.


I lived for a year in Brixton Avenue off Burton Road, perhaps its more towards West Didsbury round there but the address was Withington. I thought it was a really nice place to live, theres some nice streets around there, I remember we got several letters through the door from people wanting to buy the house so Im guessing it was a popular place.

That massive metroplitan pub had a really nice garden bar, was allways packed in the summer.

Withington's awful.

Woah!
A second hand book shop, 3 pie shops, a music shop, 3 newsagents, a nice little library, a health food shop, a couple of banks, loads of buses, a post office, 3 parks, a good cafe, 2 or 3 half decent restaraunts, a garage, a decent chippy.
Withington is probably the best south mcr suburb - if you dont stray towards Old Moat or Pytha Fold.
We even used to have our own cinema!

I'm impressed by these designs, it's great to see the old terraced houses kept and restored while at the same time being modernised. I like how the back gardens have been put at first floor level and parking provided underneath. It's a very practical use of space and it means that the first floor living rooms can open out straight into the garden rather than through a kichen and round a corner past the toilet as you do in traditional terraced house layouts. The only thing (and I suspect this is partly why the living room was moved upstairs) is that the ground floor passageways and back bedroom must be very dark. That's a problem with most terraced houses and with this design I assume no natural light gets into the back bedroom at all unless there is some kind of rooflight in the back garden. Not a huge problem considering that the master bedroom would be the front one (although the window to that being at street level would mean that the curtains would have to be closed most of the time) and you dont spend much of the daylight hours in the bedroom anyway.

Would queue believe it?

EXCLUSIVE

On the back of a blaze of publicity, developers Urban Splash led Langworthy residents to believe they were getting first chance to buy one of their upside-down houses - and locals queued through the night in the hope of snapping one up.

Little did they know they had been pipped to the post when all Urban Splash workers and thousands of their previous customers had been given the first option.

Ninety of Langworthy’s 349 revamped homes were made available to the developer’s 120 employees and its 3,000 previous customers before any residents could get their hands on the properties.

Twenty homes were released for sale on Saturday, March 25 to much fanfare from the developer about Langworthy and Seedley families getting an early opportunity to buy the properties.

Some even queued through the night at Urban Splash offices in Castlefield to make sure they didn’t miss out.

Jonathan Griffin, 29, of Winchester Road, Salford, was hoping to buy one of the new houses but says prices have shot up from the original estimates made.

He said: "I think it’s a scandal they’ve offered them to staff first. They’re just being greedy. Locals are no longer going to be able to afford the asking prices - they’re being pushed out of the market."

The company would not confirm how many workers and former clients accepted the offer but said "quite a few" had taken advantage of the scheme.

Ten homes were reserved by Langworthy and Seedley residents at the launch event, while the rest will be released in phases with up to 100 going on general sale from Saturday, April 8.

A spokesman for the company said: "With all our developments people who work directly for Urban Splash are given the option to buy houses before they go on public sale - it’s a perk of the job."

"As with all of its developments, Urban Splash allows its staff (120) and loyalty clients (the 3,000 people who have bought an Urban Splash property before) an opportunity to buy before the public sales launch."

Council leader John Merry said: "The important issue is whether residents had the opportunity to buy these homes and that’s been the case. I don’t think the number of staff buying the homes will be too significant and I don’t think anybody in the community has been disadvantaged.

"The Advertiser has not been able to quote me a single example of someone who has missed out on a property they wanted because of this."

The move has sparked anger from Lib Dem leader, councillor Norman Owen. He said: "I think residents will be concerned that Urban Splash have done this deal. These workers will no doubt be buying these homes to rent out or even sell on in a few months."

Prices start at £99,500. Full details will be available on the website www.chimneypotpark.co.uk from Saturday, April 1.

Each house in the Chimney Pot Park development will have two bedrooms on the ground floor with a living room upstairs and the kitchen in the roof.

Work on the project is underway and the first phase is expected to be completed by next spring. A sales centre will be placed in Langworthy Park from April 3 to April 7 from 10am to 5pm.

I'm impressed by these designs, it's great to see the old terraced houses kept and restored while at the same time being modernised. I like how the back gardens have been put at first floor level and parking provided underneath. It's a very practical use of space and it means that the first floor living rooms can open out straight into the garden rather than through a kichen and round a corner past the toilet as you do in traditional terraced house layouts. The only thing (and I suspect this is partly why the living room was moved upstairs) is that the ground floor passageways and back bedroom must be very dark. That's a problem with most terraced houses and with this design I assume no natural light gets into the back bedroom at all unless there is some kind of rooflight in the back garden. Not a huge problem considering that the master bedroom would be the front one (although the window to that being at street level would mean that the curtains would have to be closed most of the time) and you dont spend much of the daylight hours in the bedroom anyway.

Looking at the plans, the back bedrooms appear to have a light well installed in the corner.

Ninety of Langworthy’s 349 revamped homes were made available to the developer’s 120 employees and its 3,000 previous customers before any residents could get their hands on the properties.

Not cool.

Bit of a non story to be honest but the words 'PR' and 'disaster' spring to mind.

I'm not suprised that they did that and to me it's not that much of an unreasonable thing to do especially if it's their policy for all their developments. It was a silly mistake for them to let local residents believe that they'd be offered first choice though and I can imagine that they were understandably pissed off when they learnt the truth after a night of waiting in March/April weather! lol I agree it is a bit of a non story but it could be a real PR disaster.

Looking at the plans, the back bedrooms appear to have a light well installed in the corner.
Ah yes that's good, when I typed that last post I hadnt seen the plans. Looking at the plans however, while answering one question they make me ask another question: If parking for the houses is at ground level in the back 'lane' under the gardens, how exactly do residents get to their cars? Before looking at the floorplans I assumed that the back bedroom was not the entire width of the house and that the passageway from the front door led to a back door from which you could directly access your car. Now I assume that the developers dont expect residents to have to park their car in the back lane and then get out and walk all the way back to the end of the terrace, round the corner and back into their house via the front door, so how is that issue addressed? I dont see anything on any of the plans or renders that shows how they get round this problem, the only way I can think of without having back doors at ground level would be to have a spiral staircase from every back garden but none appear on the plans! Anyone know the answer to this?

Its a disgrace when the locals have been pushed aside!

It's disgusting, Forever Salford Red. It's like when the council CPO'd homeowners in Lower Broughton, offering them next to nothing for their houses so developers could come in and build flats.

The idea they saved the terraces instead of demolishing them is a bit dubious as well. They saved the facade to make them look like terraces at the front but demolished everything else. Not for design purposes but to make sure they were new-build and not refurb because the latter attracts 17.5% VAT tax. Sly buggers.

Sly buggers or shrewd business? Just getting round an unjust and unfair law if you ask me. They should level the playing field on this (metaphorically speaking - not highriser speaking)

...maybe its not as bad as it sounds, but its still not cool for a cool company to get caught out like this.

Agreed. It's a money-grabbing stealth tax that damages our existing housing stock while contributing to greenbelt newbuild.

Jeez, that jrb exclusive is interesting. This whole thing is starting to sound a bit unsavoury. I'm not sure what the overall development will cost, but there's public subsidy and maybe the sale prices won't cover it. You've got compulsory purchase orders followed by terraced streets being preserved because they're historic rather than a great place to live. Only the houses aren't really being preserved because they're Vat-free newbuilds with just a retained facade. And instead of real gardens the back alleys will remain, with poor access and tight parking. Bedrooms will be downstairs, which is not always popular, and the back room will be darkish with an iffy outlook. They aren't for key workers, or even for locals, but seemingly for speculators who price ordinary people out of the market and then charge them rent. It's starting to sound like bad news. That's what I dislike about "heritage" - the way it's all too often a money-making bullshit industry rather than something honest and historic and sincere. Paid for by ordinary people who don't necessarily want it.

Agreed. It's a money-grabbing stealth tax that damages our existing housing stock while contributing to greenbelt newbuild.

It's hardly a stealth tax (unless you count any indirect taxation as "stealth"). Personally i'd like to see all VAT exemptions scrapped and use the proceeds to lower income tax and national insurance to encourage wealth creation.

It's hardly a stealth tax (unless you count any indirect taxation as "stealth"). Personally i'd like to see all VAT exemptions scrapped and use the proceeds to lower income tax and national insurance to encourage wealth creation.

We would still get ripped off one way or another.... we have euro mp's, french farming and french lorry drivers to support as well as our own infrastructure....

It's a stealth tax in that it's generally excluded from the sums you see quoted. If I want £10k's worth of work doing to my house I need to earn over £20k to do it.

Employer's National Insurance 13%
Employees National Insurance 12%
Income Tax 40%
VAT 17.5%

In addition a good slug of the labour goes straight out the door in tax. Overall you get about £8k value out of your £20k earned. Hence cash talks, and the government puts a lot of energy into stopping it. Try taking more than £1k out of the bank and have a laugh at the "money laundering" formfilling nonsense.

As a raging socialist i wouldnt want to scrap the vat on refurb I would just lower it and make sure no developments are exempt.

Ah yes that's good, when I typed that last post I hadnt seen the plans. Looking at the plans however, while answering one question they make me ask another question: If parking for the houses is at ground level in the back 'lane' under the gardens, how exactly do residents get to their cars? Before looking at the floorplans I assumed that the back bedroom was not the entire width of the house and that the passageway from the front door led to a back door from which you could directly access your car. Now I assume that the developers dont expect residents to have to park their car in the back lane and then get out and walk all the way back to the end of the terrace, round the corner and back into their house via the front door, so how is that issue addressed? I dont see anything on any of the plans or renders that shows how they get round this problem, the only way I can think of without having back doors at ground level would be to have a spiral staircase from every back garden but none appear on the plans! Anyone know the answer to this?

Good point but they haven't overlooked it, if you look on the website and look at the plan for a Type B house, the light well which is basically an L shaped patio/french window opens to give access to the bedroom, not ideal really.

It's a stealth tax in that it's generally excluded from the sums you see quoted. If I want £10k's worth of work doing to my house I need to earn over £20k to do it.

Employer's National Insurance 13%
Employees National Insurance 12%
Income Tax 40%
VAT 17.5%

In addition a good slug of the labour goes straight out the door in tax. Overall you get about £8k value out of your £20k earned. Hence cash talks, and the government puts a lot of energy into stopping it. Try taking more than £1k out of the bank and have a laugh at the "money laundering" formfilling nonsense.

I'd love to be able to say my Income Tax was 40%. As would most people who dont earn nearly enough to be in that tax bracket.

They aren't for key workers, or even for locals, but seemingly for speculators who price ordinary people out of the market and then charge them rent.

:applause: Well said.


Exactly part of the point I was putting across at the start of this thread before I was shot down by loaded out-of-towners and those who hadn't properly read the story and taken on board the implications.

Since when did people have to que for three days to buy a house?. If people are queing to get their hands on one of these properties can someone tell me who decides who gets on and who does not?
:wallbash:

Todays BBC Manchester article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4889248.stm


Steve Dobb was made redundant last year and considers the house he will purchase on Saturday as an investment. "It is a fantastic development but I have to admit I am here for the money," he said. "I'm working on the assumption of £10,000 profit a day (spent in line)."

The 43-year-old lives in Diggle, Saddleworth, but said the community feeling that has sprung up here might convince him to swap picturesque village life for an urban oasis in Salford. "I can't believe people wouldn't want to live in a place like this," he said. "But if I do let it, it's important for me to let it out to people who will be right for the community."


What a prick!

This whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. I've been trying to buy a house in this part of Salford for the past year now, I've lived and worked here most of my life and I have been given a decent mortgage (roughly 100k) yet there is virtually nothing in my price range, and the properties I do see are gone within a few hours of them going on sale, swallowed up by greedy investors and landlords.

Steve Dobb = cunt!
With you 100% on this SPM.
This is a real problem in today's housing market but it seems nobody wants to do anything about it! Its even more annoying when they turf people out of their homes (and only give them 30k for the houses) and for twats like Dobbin to slime in and make profit out of it.

Second properties to let out should be taxed and regulated, with the exception of strategic areas, such as the city centres or renovated docklands.

This does nothing for the community or people looking to get on the property ladder.

Apparently its now all sold out in less than 2 hours.

Apparently *most* people who qued up got their hands on a property which is great news. Hopefully that most doesn't include tons of annonymous investors.

I liked this development to start with but the more news that came out about it the more its turned me off it. 10 grand to get a parking bay at the back or if you want to park in front of your own house on the road, a mere 5 grand, robbing bastards. I could maybe understand those prices in MCC but in Langworthy???

Second properties to let out should be taxed and regulated, with the exception of strategic areas, such as the city centres or renovated docklands.

This does nothing for the community or people looking to get on the property ladder.

I think you need some kind of licence to rent out property now.

Unfortunately the free market allows people who cannot afford a property in the South East to buy property elswhere using their increased spending power devolved from higher regional wages.

It's no different to someone from England buying a property in Bulgaria.

I guess so, although I am sure the Bulgarian's aren't being priced out of the streets where they have always lived by a sudden brit influx. I think in Spain the government has done something about it with all the brits buying holiday homes.

I'd love to see some stats on the majority of first time buyers of the Langworthy Estate, what they average mortgage would quoted. I bet it's no-where near enough to buy an Urban Splash property..

So will these designs now inspire many to renovate or refurb the 1000's of old terraces all over the UK? I hope so.

I don't think so.

This has been part-funded by a grant with heritage undertones to preserve "historic houses". The problem is that the basic economics don't work. Sure there will be people who buy a terraced house and do it up, there always have been. But if they're surrounded by a sea of other terraced houses in a crummy area it won't happen because you can't justify spending so much money. Let's face it, nobody ever did. And there's things you can't do to a single house anyway, like the parking in the alley and the back balcony, or the big structural stuff that might cause next door to fall down.

So, thank goodness, this shouldn't mean Salford etc will have their "Northern Terraces" millstone round their necks for another hundred years while everybody with any get up and go gets up and gos.

I don't think so.

This has been part-funded by a grant with heritage undertones to preserve "historic houses". The problem is that the basic economics don't work. Sure there will be people who buy a terraced house and do it up, there always have been. But if they're surrounded by a sea of other terraced houses in a crummy area it won't happen because you can't justify spending so much money. Let's face it, nobody ever did. And there's things you can't do to a single house anyway, like the parking in the alley and the back balcony, or the big structural stuff that might cause next door to fall down.

So, thank goodness, this shouldn't mean Salford etc will have their "Northern Terraces" millstone round their necks for another hundred years while everybody with any get up and go gets up and gos.
Farsight, if these Langworthy houses are the ones I remember, they are really not that old. Maybe Edwardian or newer, and they seemed to be laid out a bit more 'modern' than the older terraced examples. The brickwork (as far as I can recall) was a decent quality red glazed Accrington type.

Maybe this was why Urban Splash took this project on, as you just couldn't do this with most of the older inferior terraces where the brickwork won't have much life left in it before it perishes.

I wish I could have qualified to buy one (initially as a specker). To maybe eventually retire to. Because of the area's proximity to the Quays it has the potential to become another Chelsea.

Could be wrong though... :)

I think you need some kind of licence to rent out property now.

Unfortunately the free market allows people who cannot afford a property in the South East to buy property elswhere using their increased spending power devolved from higher regional wages.

It's no different to someone from England buying a property in Bulgaria.
In the US. and Canada, if you own a property (or properties) that are not your principal residence, you are subject to a capital gains tax if and when you sell (for profit of course).

This doesn't apply to a 'second home' or cottage that you use for recreation purposes.

Just thought I'd mention it...

....maybe eventually retire to. Because of the area's proximity to the Quays it has the potential to become another Chelsea.

I was thinkin similarly...maybe to pass to my little fella. I think it'll be a great area to live in about 10 years from now....

Farsight, if these Langworthy houses are the ones I remember, they are really not that old. Maybe Edwardian or newer, and they seemed to be laid out a bit more 'modern' than the older terraced examples. The brickwork (as far as I can recall) was a decent quality red glazed Accrington type.


I think you are right. Its rare to find many terraced houses built before the 1919 Housing Act which outlawed back to backs and shared latrines. I also think the 1904 Public health Act started the move over to these type of terraces.
Thankfully most pre 1904 terraces have been demolished or significantly refurbed.
I would say (and this is an educated guess) that these are around 1910 -14.

Chimney Pot homes vigil pays off

The first homes in Salford's Chimney Pot Park - one of the country's most talked-about housing schemes - were snapped up within hours of going on sale.

The Victorian, terraced streets of Langworthy have long been regarded as the inspiration for Coronation Street.

A redevelopment by Urban Splash has proved hugely popular and, as revealed in the M.E.N. last week, attracted buyers from as far away as London.

Advertisement your story continues below
The first 108 homes of the 349-terrace scheme went on sale on Saturday and sold out within two-and-a-half hours - even though none of the houses have yet been built.

The homes, which look like old-fashioned terraces but with modern features, have been dubbed Upside Down Houses because the bedrooms are on the ground floor and the living space on the first.

More than 120 people stood in line on Saturday morning to pay £1,000 to secure a home - which cost between £99,500-£144,000.

Some had been queuing since Monday last week. Purchasing rules meant that a buyer or their representative had to stay on the area at all times or otherwise forfeit their place in the queue.

Trainee accountant Suzanne Dick, 23, secured a home after enlisting the aid of her family to her keep her place in the queue during the week.

She said: "It was a real family effort because my mum, dad, and brother all queued for me overnight.

Miles: there's always scope for terraced houses to be done up. But you need a driver, like location location location to make the economics work whereupon you buy a house for X, spend Y, and it's worth Z, but X plus Y doesn't exceed Z. A barrage or orchestrated publicity that glosses over the grant aid and the invitation to Urban Splash staff and speculators won't change this. Nor will it make terraced houses desirable all of a sudden, particularly when in serried ranks. It might give a push to some marginal cases like next to a park or on the edge of a nice suburb, or in a kind of mews. But people aren't stupid, they don't believe everything they read in newspapers.

As for the houses, no they're not that old, but they're old enough to have nothing worth saving. Building is all about labour these days, and you have to be able to plan things rather than fiddle about trying to patch stuff up while your schedule goes to pot. Keeping these "historic houses" is far far more expensive than rebuild, and it's costing you taxes, affordable homes, and public open space. Make no mistake about it, Urban Splash took this on because of the big fat grant coupled with prior CPOs. Don't kid yourself otherwise, and watch out because this could go awfully sour when people dig past the publicity puff.

I think you are right. Its rare to find many terraced houses built before the 1919 Housing Act which outlawed back to backs and shared latrines. I also think the 1904 Public health Act started the move over to these type of terraces.
Thankfully most pre 1904 terraces have been demolished or significantly refurbed.
I would say (and this is an educated guess) that these are around 1910 -14.

Back to back houses were banned in Manchester by an 1844 bye-law, and I'm pretty certain that the only examples in Mcr are a row of three just off the Piccadilly side of Great Ancoats St. I think they're on on Tib Street - perhaps someone can comfirm. Although I don't know, I suspect that Salford also banned them prior to 1919, given that few, if any, examples exist in the city compared to several towns in West Yorkshire where many streets of back-to-backs can still be found (although probably not for long if Prezza's godforsaken HMRI has anything to do with it).

On another matter, it's a real pet hate of mine when people refer to terraced housing as back-to-back (no one guilty of it on here). A back-to-back house shares a rear wall with another house - therefore a mid-terrace back-to-back only has windows on its front. The MEN have been guilty of referring to terraces as b-to-bs several times, the Lonely Planet guide to Manchester wrote of the back-to-back houses that one saw as you approached from London on the train, and even the opening sequences of the Urban Splash Chimney Pot Park website contains an ill-informed quote describing the development as the re-furb of back-to-backs. Rant over, but thought I'd "1st post" with a bang!

Back to back houses were banned in Manchester by an 1844 bye-law, and I'm pretty certain that the only examples in Mcr are a row of three just off the Piccadilly side of Great Ancoats St. I think they're on on Tib Street - perhaps someone can comfirm. Although I don't know, I suspect that Salford also banned them prior to 1919, given that few, if any, examples exist in the city compared to several towns in West Yorkshire where many streets of back-to-backs can still be found (although probably not for long if Prezza's godforsaken HMRI has anything to do with it).


yeah - nice one WS. I was trawling the depths of my memory from my degree. I was pretty sure i was getting my Acts mixed up!
You are right - there are still some rare back to backs in Yorkshire (true b2b's like you say) and evidence would suggest Mcr and salford banned them long before 1904.
i think the examples you mean in Mcr are between Newton and Lever Street and are Georgian.

Urban Splash's plan for a community centre and church at chimney pot park:

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/2594/picture2fr7.jpg

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/2240/picture4zx8.jpg

News to me.

the last terraces of back-to-back housing in Manchester were at John Street, Irk Town - demolished 1982; and Portugal Street, Ancoats - demolished a bit later (i'm not sure of the exact date).

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/Libraries/lsuimage/streetview/portugal.htm

In the US. and Canada, if you own a property (or properties) that are not your principal residence, you are subject to a capital gains tax if and when you sell (for profit of course).

It's the same here.

apart from the website does anyone have any pictures of the site?

Thar you go delores, under construction:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/389400029_f7536bab9e_b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/389404535_c7928da834_b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/389400035_d7b19962f7_b.jpg

taken by manbitesdog - more here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/85308049@N00/

excellant thanks! looks very interesting..

No problemo. I go past this site quite a lot and i've noticed they're also doing something to the park at the end, they've ripped up aload of the old grass verges and replaced it with stone steps - I know it's unlikely, but does anybody know anything about this - or whatever else they're doing to the park? Can't find the planning app.

It really cannot be cost effective to preserve those facades. Why not just get rid and start from scratch with something that looks better and uses the space more effectively? Like three-storey town houses. Maybe white, with some real beauty. Instead of wasting public money on the preservation of the dreary terraced lowryesque "heritage" that so many people left Manchester to escape from.

It really cannot be cost effective to preserve those facades. Why not just get rid and start from scratch with something that looks better and uses the space more effectively? Like three-storey town houses. Maybe white, with some real beauty. Instead of wasting public money on the preservation of the dreary terraced lowryesque "heritage" that so many people left Manchester to escape from.

Because people like them perhaps?
Not everyone has 'left Manchester to escape from' terraced houses.
One mans dreary is another mans homely.
Just cos you have a chip on your shoulder about this sort of thing doesnt mean everyone else does.

http://www.afn.org/~savanna/pullman.jpg

More dreary terraces from Chicago

wayne hemmingway said that the terrace house was a design classic and i for one, agree.

I live in a terrace, (a superior one at that) and i love it. I have a small garden at the front (so does the rest of the street) which is well tendered and looked after (so are the others in the street).

People look after the street because their house is directly on it. It gives modestly earning people ownership of their direct environment.

I get on well with my neighbours in away that i thought wasn't possible in this day and age because I meet them every day. If i sit in the backyard I have to talk to my neighbourhoods (not a bad thing!).

Give me a terrace any day over a knocked up piece o shite appartment block with the takeway leaflets building up in the communal hallway cos no one can be arsed to move them.

wayne hemmingway said that the terrace house was a design classic and i for one, agree.

I live in a terrace, (a superior one at that) and i love it. I have a small garden at the front (so does the rest of the street) which is well tendered and looked after (so are the others in the street).

People look after the street because their house is directly on it. It gives modestly earning people ownership of their direct environment.

I get on well with my neighbours in away that i thought wasn't possible in this day and age because I meet them every day. If i sit in the backyard I have to talk to my neighbourhoods (not a bad thing!).

Give me a terrace any day over a knocked up piece o shite appartment block with the takeway leaflets building up in the communal hallway cos no one can be arsed to move them.

:applause:

Hello, knock on wood. Townhouses are terraced houses. Look at that picture Isaac posted. You could have built better looking, more desirable three storey houses here with small front gardens and more internal and rear space for less money. Duh!

Edit: I'll wager you could have built these for less, maybe in a nice honey brick or cream render.

http://img.findaproperty.com/hamptons/chelsea/p1855934.jpg

You could build em cheaper.. yeah, i bet you could farsight..

i can just see some lovely white PVC drainage coming down the side. PVC windows and stuck on brickwork. who needs the real article.

I get your point farsight but it's manchesters heritage - we should be proud of these terraced streets. This IS manchester architecture!

I mean this all in a very nice by the way and not trying to be horrible!:)

Damn right I could. Block and render, and what's wrong with UPVC windows? What, not real wood? Get real. The thing is this: if those buildings were something to be really proud of, if people were genuinely proud of them, they would have been all over them all down the years and this dodgy public-funded, lowryesque heritage "evict 'em" wholesale stuff would never have gotten a look in.

....and what's wrong with UPVC windows?

Erm......everything.

They go yellow...sometimes.

http://img.findaproperty.com/hamptons/chelsea/p1855934.jpgThose are a terrible pastiche of a mid Victorian London terrace that you can spot all over North London (the real thing that is, populated by the likes of Tessa Jowell et al.)

The Salford terraces themselves were obsolete but their facades are worth retaining and are better than those in the picture you post as they look cheap even though they are not.

Admit it Farsight you have absolutely no taste, not a crime in any stretch of the imagination but imagination is what you lack.

You are an exurbanite who views the city from a distance, hence your love of very tall buildings whose size can only be appreciated from a distance.

Hence your love of crap and cheap and pastiche, because that is your environment, unfortunately.

Rows and rows of crap cheap souless identical Coronation Street houses lack imagination Isaac. Not me. What you dismiss as pastiche is living heritage, the real thing, that people really value and vote for with their feet and their wallets, and part of the rich tapestry that makes a city a pleasure to live in.

Farsight... back to your point of...." if people had genuinely cared they wouldn't have left them"

Yes, the area might have gone to the dogs but the houses are fine (facade wise anyway). Bang them in Hale and they would go for thousands. I know it's a very simplistic argument but its true!

Rows and rows of crap cheap souless identical Coronation Street houses lack imagination Isaac. Not me. What you dismiss as pastiche is living heritage, the real thing, that people really value and vote for with their feet and their wallets, and part of the rich tapestry that makes a city a pleasure to live in.

They look like contemporary copies to me but if they ARE the real thing I apologize but then I don't understand your argument as those houses would have mews behind them which are not unlike northern terraces and are much like what is trying to be created in Salford.

There is nothing wrong with identical terraced houses, they are better than identical glass skyscrapers and there is nothing wrong with red brick, it looks good in Amsterdam, it looks good in Edwardian London, it looks good in Montreal and in Northern France and it looks good in Northern
England.

Any update on these now? It must be nearly complete?

Nope im buying on CPP and mine aint ready till october. My mate december so prob about march 2009 they will finish mate

Had a good look around Chimney Pot Park last week. Sorry not impressed at all. Someone has made a killing and it isn't the previous residents.

Yeah JRB i've seen a few for sale on the internet and the interiors are very cheap and nasty and not in keeping with the victorian exterior. Trying to be designer but failing badly. There is a reason bedrooms are upstairs, but the designers have ignored it.

Is there a link to any on sale please?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-19292927.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=buy

If you go to Flickr and type in Chimney Pot Park there are loads of fairly up to date pics of this on there.

As a reminder, the website is, http://www.urbansplash.co.uk/chimneypotpark/

Bit of chimney pot park action ftw:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/Goldie_78/P6070068.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/Goldie_78/P6070067.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/Goldie_78/P6070066.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/Goldie_78/P6070063.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii16/Goldie_78/P6070062-1.jpg

Thats just what I was after, cheers! It doesnt look real does it?

Pardon my French but what a load of british bollox this is...

You'd think they could have used something other than tarmac for the roads and pavements.

You'd think they could have used something other than tarmac for the roads and pavements.

Tarmac is cheaper to lay and maintain than cobbles for example. Also, paving slabs when uneven can lead to lawsuits!!

Must say, i originally thought they were naff, but after a closer inspection of one of these, i was duly impressed. I would happily live in one.

I hope the street signs in the photos are replaced with full size ones eventually, otherwise you will need x-ray specs to read them.

I quite liked it in person. IBEH is right, it doesn't look real, it is so weirdly neat. I think the only thing I saw that hadn't been put there by Urban Splash was a window box with some geraniums in it. I'd sort of assumed I'd be walking on tarmac rather than York stone slabs too. There weren't many empty houses though, which was good to see in such a new development. It sits better than I'd thought it would with the rest of Langworthy too.

Future slums?

I have bought one and they are nice.

They sold out in 2.5hrs, and people waited for 3days to get there’s. Future slums can’t see it they are all owned by professionals.

Go to view the show house I think anyone who has a look will like what’s been done.

I think this is the start of big things to come for the area.

This is faze 2 of 5 Salford quays being the first.

I have bought one and they are nice.

They sold out in 2.5hrs, and people waited for 3days to get there’s. Future slums can’t see it they are all owned by professionals.

Go to view the show house I think anyone who has a look will like what’s been done.

I think this is the start of big things to come for the area.

This is faze 2 of 5 Salford quays being the first.

Yes Salford has deserved better for a very long time. Do you know if/when they will replace the main shopping precinct? It looks so run down and rough, a new shopping centre would help transform the place.

I don’t know a date for that mate but my friend in Salford council did tell me I think it was a 35million face lift for the shopping centre. I also think Salford deserves to have more than it gets. Let’s hope the money keeps being invested

THE MAIL ON SUNDAY BHA AWARDS 08
AWARD WINNING HOMES

Urban Splash
That commitment is evident in such schemes as Islington Square, in New Islington, East Manchester. At Islington Square, Urban Splash worked with trendy architect FAT and the local community to produce houses straight from a fairytale with Dutch gables, cheery coloured brickwork and balconies with cute heart-shaped cutouts. By contrast for the Budenberg Haus Projekte apartment scheme in Altrincham the developer set the urban minimalism of signature architect Foster and Partners in the rural setting of Cheshire.
There seem to be no end to the developer’s challenges to convention. One project in progress involves regenerating rows of eminently ordinary Victorian terraced houses in Langworthy, near Salford. With the help of architect shedkm, the developer is giving the homes a complete makeover that includes the addition of mezzanines, garden decks and car ports, turning the living accommodation upside down and a little bit of Splash marketing magic, complete with the new name for the area: Chimney Pot Park.
When the first houses at Chimney Pot Park went on sale at eminently affordable prices starting at £99,500, 108 people queued up, some camping overnight, to buy. Through schemes like Chimney Pot Park, Urban Splash is demonstrating that there is an appetite for design quality and individuality. Our judges concluded: “If only the rest of the industry would take a leaf out of Urban Splash’s book
:banana: