Projects
Established in 1993, the company has transformed disused buildings across the United Kingdom with schemes in cities including Castlefield, Chips and Ducie House in Manchester, Chimney Pot Park in Salford, Lister Mills in Bradford, Saxton in Leeds, Park Hill in Sheffield, The Vanilla and Tea Factories and the Matchworks in Liverpool, The Rotunda and Fort Dunlop in Birmingham, Lakeshore in Bristol, Stalybridge and Plymouth (Royal William Yard).
The success in transforming these projects has been documented in the press with articles on Chimney Pot Park in Salford in The Times. The Observer wrote about Park Hill: "The cleverly planned, well-dimensioned flats have been reinstated, but with bigger windows and greater openness than before. The streets in the sky are back" and Building Magazine wrote about Saxton in Leeds: "Saxton is typical of Urban Splash - take some down at heel buildings and reinvent it as trendy, afforable, city centre living..."
Urban Splash also place emphasis on design, employing well respected architects such as Foster and Partners, ShedKM, Will Alsop, FAT Architects and Glenn Howells. In 2012, the company published a book documenting its relationship with architects and the schemes it had completed. The book was reviewed in The Times newspaper who said: "When it comes to rescuing the great industrial landmarks of the past, Urban Splash is in a class of its own".
Recent and ongoing developments at the company include two landmarks in Birmingham: The Rotunda and Fort Dunlop, the redevelopment of Morecambe's famous Art Deco Midland Hotel, which was completed in May 2008, Saxton in Leeds and its current major scheme at Park Hill in Sheffield, where it is working on the first phase of developing new homes and workspaces in the 1960s Grade II listed building.
In September 2008 Urban Splash announced it would be making significant redundancies due to the downturn in the UK property market. This downturn has led to delays on some projects.
In 2012 Lakeshore's residents moved in to the old tobacco factory in Bristol, a highly sustainable apartment complex. The apartments come complete with underfloor heating powered by a Biomass Boiler and a guide promoting sustainable living as part of the package.
In March 2010 it was announced by Urban Splash that they would be drawing up plans for an £80 million project to renovate the Pleasureland Southport site and construct an outdoor heated swimming pool, while expanding the marine lake and construct a winter garden, which will all be housed under a landmark atrium inspired by the Eden project. This development could form part of the 34-acre (140,000 m2) plot, which will be known as Southport Marine Park.
Read more about this topic: Urban Splash
Famous quotes containing the word projects:
“One of the things that is most striking about the young generation is that they never talk about their own futures, there are no futures for this generation, not any of them and so naturally they never think of them. It is very striking, they do not live in the present they just live, as well as they can, and they do not plan. It is extraordinary that whole populations have no projects for a future, none at all.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“But look what we have built ... low-income projects that become worse centers of delinquency, vandalism and general social hopelessness than the slums they were supposed to replace.... Cultural centers that are unable to support a good bookstore. Civic centers that are avoided by everyone but bums.... Promenades that go from no place to nowhere and have no promenaders. Expressways that eviscerate great cities. This is not the rebuilding of cities. This is the sacking of cities.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)