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Designer Stephenson Bell Ltd Developer Crosby Homes (North West) Ltd Contractor not yet appointed Planning Authority Manchester City Council

Hemmed in by road and rail viaducts, bisected by the Bridgewater Canal, this is scarcely the most promising site for housing. Yet it is precisely the sort of site which will need to be tackled if we are to bring new life back into our city centres.

The developers and their architects have responded to the challenge with immense verve. 104 apartments swing round in a richly modelled block which leaps over the canal, forming a new natural focus around it for the residents. This is heroic stuff, and the quality of design is carried through into the detailed plans of the flats themselves, with their generous living spaces and balconies. In every sense, this is a massive vote of confidence in the future of inner Manchester, and a pointer to the regeneration of other areas with similar physical problems.