Urban Splash long been part of that particular growth story. Over the last three decades, we’ve taken bold leaps into places that were sadly overlooked at the time – Castlefield, Hulme, New Islington, Ancoats – and helped them evolve into thriving urban quarters. The Local Plan proposals feel like confirmation of what we’ve always believed: that what were once the city’s edges can be reimagined, redefined, and turned into thriving destinations.

Conceived in the late 1990s, Castlefield was one of our earliest steps beyond the traditional city centre boundary. Once characterised by scrap merchants, disused warehouses and industrial relics, it’s now a neighbourhood brimming with homes, workplaces, bars and restaurants.

Our work here – such as converting mills into loft apartments and bringing life back to underused canalside sites – showed what could be possible when you combine heritage with modern design. Developments like Albert Mill and Box Works, Timber Wharf, Moho, Burton Place set the tone, retaining historic fabric while creating unique, modern homes right on the edge of the city.

If Castlefield was about rediscovering heritage, New Islington has been about redefining a community from the ground up.

20 years ago, the area was neglected and under loved – a place most Mancunians passed through rather than visited. Fast forward to today and it’s a Sunday Times “Best Place to Live”, home to Cotton Field Park, houseboats an OFSTED-Outstanding free school, a health centre, a dedicated Metrolink stop, and hundreds of houses and apartments – 30% of them affordable too.

Most importantly, we’ve helped nurture a community. Independent cafés and bars line the waterfront and face the green space. What was once a backdrop for Shameless has become a genuine, award-winning Manchester success story.

Another jewel in the city’s crown is Ancoats. The Sunday Times called it “the original Northern Powerhouse” and “one of the best places to live" and we’re proud to have been the first developer to bring some of the industrial mills here back into use as well-designed workspaces giving creative businesses that flock here a place to call home.

Beehive Mill is a standout example, formerly Sankey’s nighclub it’s now filled with businesses of all types, with Beehive Lofts coworking and The King’s Trust, while nearby Waulk Mill is home to brands like media business KOMI.

Before it was officially the Northern Quarter, it was just another unloved district on the edge of the centre “the crappy part of town behind Market Street “. I was proud to be part of the original steering group that named and shaped it, championing its independent spirit, and then developing the flagship Smithfield Buildings too.

Today, the Northern Quarter is celebrated as Manchester’s creative hub – a Bohemian, independent district full of bars, shops, record stores and cultural life. It’s proof of what can happen when you give space to smaller operators and a community-led identity.

The Local Plan’s proposals to bring areas like Ancoats and New Islington fully into the city centre boundary is a recognition of how much progress has already been made. But it’s also a challenge to keep going.

Our oath has always been “we will leave this city not less, but greater than it was left to us” – and that’s exactly what we sought out to do in these quarters – and it’s what we’re committed to doing next.

As Manchester gets bigger in every sense of the word, we’ll continue doing what we do best; creating brilliantly designed, sustainable homes, green spaces and new neighbourhoods where people can live, work and play.