New student accommodation blocks labelled “unimaginative” and "boring" WILL be built A block containing 353 student studios on Frederick Road and Cheltenham Street, as well as 148 student flats north of Broughton Road East and east of Seaford Road, were given the thumbs up by Salford Council's Planning and Transportation Regulatory Panel.
But the Frederick Road site was met with condemnation and compared to a prison by one councillor. Coun Bob Clarke said it looked like it belonged 'on Rikers Island' - where New York's main jail complex is housed.
He said: “It is not good is it. Yet another blot on the landscape. There is just no attempt to make it look nice.
“One elevation looks like it belongs on Rikers Island with the narrow windows. We have got to have a better street scene than this.
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“We are closing the sky off to people and all we can see is concrete and glass monstrosities and it drains the life out of me. I just don’t know what we are trying to achieve here.
“In 10 years time we will stand back and say who did that, because it is awful. I know we need accommodation for students but really a modern day prison block is not what we should be building.”
The 10 to 15 storey accommodation offers studio flats with a bedroom space, shower room and kitchenette and living area. The proposal includes 120 bicycle spaces at ground level.
But greeing with Coun Clarke, Coun Warmisham questioned why the applicants, X1, would want to build residential accommodation right next to a waste facility which prompts numerous complaints about the stench in summer. He said the officers need to look at themselves and questioned why pushed for the scheme to be approved.
The other student accommodation block approved by the panel, based at Stervon House, would see the demolition of the existing industrial buildings in the area to be replaced with space for 412 beds arranged over five to six storeys. There would be a plethora of flats differing in bedroom number as well as a commercial property at the bottom as well as a gym and cycle storage.
Developer Lichfields' design of the building was also criticised heavily by councillors. Given the location of this being near Peel Park, councillors said they were 'disappointed' to see no iconic structures being brought to the gateway of the city.
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Coun John Warmisham said: “In the distant past the planning panel recommended the demolition of the most wonderful arch at the transport depot across the road from this development and it was an absolute travesty. Here we have yet another building that is square box on box boring to look at, and just doesn’t have any imagination.
“I know this has been done because of cost but if you look at some of the old student accommodation across the campus, why can’t we have something innovative. This is the gateway into Charlestown and the first step towards Peel Park so I would have expected something a bit iconic really and stand out.
“Here we have another boring building. I just wish people would be more imaginative, I am sick of driving around Salford and looking at brown boxes.”
Coun Philip Cusack, following Coun Warmisham said: “We would aspire to higher levels of design in the major gateways into the city, however it is what it is and it serves a function and is planning compliant.”
Both applications were approved as they both met the requirements for planning permission.
