New Broughton Celebrates Major Regeneration Milestone

New Broughton is marking a number of major milestones this week as it celebrates the progress made at the pioneering £500m regeneration scheme in Lower Broughton, Salford. Development partners Salford City Council, Urban Vision, Countryside Properties and Laing O’Rourke, were joined by Council Leader, Cllr John Merry at an event to mark the occasion.

The event honoured the significant milestones made in the impressive redevelopment of the 74-hectare site, celebrating Laing O’Rourke’s official hand over of the new River View Primary School to Salford City Council, which has a 420 children capacity and will open to pupils in September this year.

Additional features include a 60-place nursery, a Children’s Centre Hub, a dedicated language centre and a large resource space to provide key services, both during and outside school hours.

Councillor John Merry CBE, Leader of Salford City Council, said: "This is the latest part of our New Broughton regeneration scheme to come together. We know from experience that access to good primary school facilities can really kick start a community and this school will do just that. I am delighted to see this development come to fruition."

The school, designed by Urban Vision and constructed by Laing O’Rourke, also demonstrates best practice in sustainable building design with the installation of intelligent lighting systems, which have contributed to the school achieving a ‘BREEAM’ rating of ‘very good’.

The occasion also showcased the latest of the 709 mixed-tenure homes at Countryside Properties’ New Broughton Village and the new community park, which sits at the heart of the regeneration, offering attractive landscaping, sweeping footpaths, a children’s playground and adult outdoor gym area.

Richard Wynne, Client Director, Urban Vision commented: “Urban Vision is extremely proud to have designed and delivered River View Primary School and the new community park, as well as managing the entire development project on behalf of the City Council. I am extremely confident that the strength of the partnership working will serve us well into the future and I look forward to Urban Vision contributing to the further regeneration of Lower Broughton”.

Project Leader Darren Suttle, of construction delivery partner Laing O’Rourke, said: “We are extremely proud to have been able to work in collaboration with Salford City Council, Urban Vision and Countryside Properties in the delivery of this first class educational facility.

“We have delivered projects for Salford for a number of years, and are privileged today to be able to hand over River View Primary School and community Park, truly first class facilities, for the Lower Broughton community.”

Richard Cherry, Deputy Chairman of Countryside Properties, commented: “New Broughton has come a long way since our early conversations with Salford City Council in 2003. You can build homes, and you can build a school, but it is when you combine these with other elements such as local shops, places to meet and a new park, that you start to create the infrastructure for a sustainable and vibrant community.”

Once complete, New Broughton will become one of the largest regeneration schemes in the UK, including around 3,500 affordable and social housing units; the new two-tier primary school; recreational and retail facilities; and the landscaped community park.