IT'S going to be a long process but you have to start somewhere and they have started with the renovation of the first of more than 600 properties in Brunswick that are being retained as part of this vast regeneration project.
“At the moment this area is multi-generational as well as multi-cultural and we want it to stay that way.” That may be wishful thinking.
There’s a budget of £113m to cover not only the renovations (new kitchens and bathrooms and windows) but the reversal of 124 more properties so they make more sense to the street layout and the demolition of another 278.
In their place they are building another 522 homes, 300 of which will be available for open market sale, the rest for social rent.
Brunswick - 70's planning
Its more than 10 years since Manchester embarked on the country’s first PFI scheme at Plymouth Grove. Brunswick is likely to be the last.
Handing over the estate to a consortium means the city sheds its responsibility. It has worked at Grove where Your Housing now manage the social housing with an active hands on approach and Gleeson are still building and selling to private buyers.
At Brunswick a different consortium won out. Solutions 4 Brunswick brings together construction group Galliford Try with its housing arm Linden Homes, Contour Homes to manage the social housing, Mears to do the refurbishment and Equitix providing the financing.
The contract is for 25 years.
For the Rev Simon Gatenby who has spent the last two decades at Brunswick Community Church this cannot come soon enough.
He said: “It has been a long time coming and we have learned to live with disappointment. But if they get it right it will have been worth holding out for. The devil will be in the detail.
“We have waited so long we did not want to be undersold.
“This area was never like Plymouth Grove was with lots of empty properties and no-go areas. We have never had a problem letting houses here because of the location, between the city and the university.
“Not many communities have a museum at the end of the road and a world class swimming pool on the corner.
“We already knew the value of the area so when the consultations began talking about added value we did not want to be short changed. We already knew the value of Brunswick.”
Brunswick - Rev Simon
Beginning smack bang up against the Mancunian Way, Brunswick estate veers south east bounded by Upper Brook street and Ardwick Green coming to an end where the road veers off to Plymouth Grove at one side and the Apollo theatre at the other.
Its currently home to a diverse mix – there are 28 first languages at the brand new primary school – with around 250 of the current 1,300 properties privately owned.
Simon said: “It’s a great area made up of a number of very good communities and wonderfully cosmopolitan.
“But it’s a hidden area with an identity crisis.
“We are quite aware that it will probably be re-branded. Grove Village sort of evolved but there is no consensus here. Brunswick only appeared in the late 70s after the last redevelopment when Brunswick Street was one of the few original streets that remained.
“The older people who live here have no affinity to the Brunswick name at all but the youth does – it’s an interesting debate to be had.”
I wonder what Lloyd George would have made of it? The British prime minister through much of The First World War was born here and a plaque marks the spot. Well near enough.
Brunswick - Lloyd George fading away
The first new houses to buy, designed by Buttress Fuller Alsop Williams, are a mix of new terraces and larger three storey detached homes.
Construction should start at the back end of this year with the first ones released for sale in 2015.
The masterplan shows them mainly to the south of the area, closest to the university rather than the city, with a row of new larger properties edging Gartside Gardens.
Gartside Gardens
Ah yes. Gartside Gardens.
At the moment it’s the only green space amidst a sea of concrete and its going to get smaller.
It’s not a pristine oasis now, crossed by a couple of paths, with benches around the outside and a basketball court at one end. But it’s well used by students in the gated block next door and a few dog walkers, and its open space and grass has potential.
The reconfiguration of the layout will see a third of the gardens taken for new housing but a playground installed and another children’s playground built elsewhere on the estate.
New houses
Rev Gatenby is pragmatic at its partial loss.
He said: “Green space is a premium in Brunswick anyway but the argument we have been given is quality not quantity. People can be incredibly parochial and don’t want to lose what they have but hopefully we will gain with new allotments and a community garden when the old health centre is knocked down.
“And there will be a green route going across the estate toward the Apollo.”
It would have been good if the masterplanners could have found a way to fit in even more, build the housing around green squares, add more trees and pocket parks. Soften the place.
The row of shops next to Rev Gatenby’s community church are being demolished with a replacement block on the main road by the Apollo where they will attract more trade and presumably higher rents. But they will no longer be community shops, a place where you can nip of an evening for some milk or a chocolate fix.
It would be a sad loss if the local chippy that has been here for the last 30 years does not survive. The owner is still waiting to speak to either the council or the consortium about compensation or relocation.
Rev Gatenby said: “There will be considerable sadness if we do not have a chippy and I feel the heart of the estate has been pushed towards the Apollo.”
The worry is that when the new build is released for sale it will be snapped up by investors and rented out to students.
This happened at Grove Village where around 50% of the properties are buy-to-let despite efforts from Gleeson to restrict to owner occupiers.
Brunswick - to be refurbished
Rev Gatenby said: “The real difficulty is the proximity to the university as we don’t want all the houses to be sold to landlords who fill them with students.
“That doesn't make a stable community.
“I have nothing against students, they are vital for the city but they do not necessarily benefit the community where they immediately live and the schools then suffer because every time a family is priced out by a landlord the school loses the children.
“At the moment this area is multi-generational as well as multi-cultural and we want it to stay that way.”
It may be wishful thinking as investors are already circling.
The Philip James Partnership is selling a three bedroom apartment in Mancroft Walk, one of the low rise blocks close to the Mancunian Way.
According to Zoopla it was bought in 2010 for £46,000 and it’s been done up well with a good new kitchen and central heating boiler, new bathroom and new decor.
It is now on the market for £135,000 and they have been inundated with offers – mainly investors looking to rent it out.
Philip James director Rob Cuffe said: “At £900 a month it would give an 8% yield so it is very appealing.
“Brunswick already has a nice community feel to it, there are no empty properties and burned out cars and broken glass like you can find on other estates.
“And it’s about to have £100m spent on it so it is going to get even better.
“The potential here is huge given its location a ten minute walk from the city centre down Oxford Road and the same to Piccadilly Train station. The only thing that puts people off is the proximity of the Mancunian Way. Walk out of some of the deck access flats and the cars are right in your face,
“But further back in it will be really good and the new housing will attract investors and there is no way to get around that.”
Brunswick has the potential to be an aspirational city suburb. Let’s see what develops and if they have aimed high enough and if the people who live here now have not been short changed.
You can follow Jill Burdett on Twitter here.
New housing styles
Work starting
