Urban Splash boss Tom Bloxham has vowed to push forward with a stalled Salford housing development after his firm posted positive results after a restructure.
In a statement to Companies House the charismatic property developer said the housing market boom would end the challenges of the past five years and the group was “looking forward to growing our business again.”
Founded in 1993, Urban Splash masterminded Langworthy’s unusual upside-down houses at Chimney Pot Park but faced issues with a downturn in the property sector.
But a refinancing deal struck in 2013 has now borne fruit with profit of £7.6m on revenues of £44.4m.
The 21-year-old Manchester firm said it had refinanced of £195.9m of debt and sold worth of £93.6m of property.
“We are progressing our residential scheme at Springfield Lane in Salford which we hope to commence on site in the near future,” Bloxham said.
Springfield Lane, off Trinity Way, hit headlines last year when Salford City Council gave planning permission for a 25,000sq ft supermarket and 40 apartments, against the wishes of Manchester City Council.
The plans came with 121 car parking spaces and a walkway along the Irwell riverside.
But the green-roofed supermarket off Trinity Way has now been binned in favour of focusing on 71 terraced houses and 100 apartments.
Architects shedkm – who also devised Urban Splash’s ‘upside-down’ houses at Chimney Pot Park – have put forward proposals for factory-built pre-fabricated houses on Springfield Lane, the former site of Greengate Cotton Mills and Springfield Ironworks.
The site was formed by the diversion of the River Irwell through the Anaconda Cut in 1968.
According to new planning documents submitted in April 2015, occupants will be offered either a 1,000sq ft house over two storeys, or a 1,500sq ft house over three storeys, with a modular design that can be switched around in advance to create different layouts.
“We have been thinking for years now how we can break the mould and disrupt the house building industry,” they say, “ just as we did when he helped create the city centre living boom and loft apartment trend in the 1990s.
“We have long been frustrated with the mediocrity of the UK’s new build housing [which] tends to be unispiring, and often a very poor copy of traditional houses with low ceilings, small windows, little character and tiny rooms you can’t alter.
“We wanted to make houses with high ceilings and big windows and the ability to change layouts so they can specify the exact house they want.”
Urban Splash put forward the revised Springfield Lane proposals in April. They are now under consideration by Salford City Council.
