Bolton: The model town to buck the recession

June 15, 1996 was a big day in the history of Manchester. That afternoon, an IRA bomb wiped out the city centre, causing £411m worth of damage and injuring over 200 but, by the grace of God, claiming no lives. It was an attack aimed at disrupting the economy and infrastructure of the city and, although it succeeded in doing so in the short term, ultimately the bombing, along with the prospect of the Commonwealth Games coming to town, was the catalyst for the total regeneration of central Manchester and many of its suburbs, resulting in the city now being regarded as a glitzy hub of culture, commerce, sport and entertainment.

But while the likes of Manchester and other cities underwent their transformations, towns on their outskirts often lagged behind. Bolton is an example of this, even though it has fared better than many in terms of investment, notably in the new Reebok Stadium and Middlebrook area. But, in the town itself, the reminders of the decline of industry, in this case the textiles industry, are plain to see.

However, it’s not doom and gloom by any means. Bolton is one of Britain’s largest towns, a hive of manufacturing, even since sportswear giant Reebok relocated from the area. It has a Premiership football team and the university, a former polytechnic, is one of the fastest growing in the country.

The potential is there. And the fact that, until now, Bolton has dragged its feet on the regeneration front is something which we, at über Massclusive, Bolton Council, and other property developers, can now turn into a positive. Bolton has the opportunity to do what those other places have done, learning from them and improving the cohesion of development to deliver better than expected value from change.

The vision
Our vision for Bolton is to build on this potential and create a place that people would be delighted to live, work or visit. This will be done through the creation of desirable, affordable housing; low price, high design office space just 15 minutes from the centre of Manchester, engaging the local workforce, discussions on sustainability, developing a café culture in the town centre and injecting funding into the town’s educational institutions.

This will all be executed in a way that celebrates, rather than replaces, the rich industrial heritage which is plain to see from the 108 mills that dot the landscape. Ultimately, I believe that Bolton can serve as a model for those other towns, towns around Manchester, Birmingham or London, to follow suit.

This is a vision given cross-party support and which has long been shared by passionate and committed individuals at Bolton Council. Before über Massclusive started on its first development, Keith Davies, Director of Development and Regeneration, Andrew Holden, Principal Project Officer for Regeneration and other high impact personnel had been putting their heads together to work out what to do with the iconic mills, how to attract businesses to the town and how to create a town that residents would be proud to call their own.

The town has recently rebranded – not unusual these days, and only a drop in the ocean as far as total regeneration is concerned – but in Bolton this was undertaken as an exercise in local identity, with the town’s residents contributing to the design exercise and the end result giving a nod to the industrial age in which it came to prominence. It is indicative of the change that is happening, physically and socially.

Davies is happy to admit that the current financial situation has slowed the process down, but the ball is still well and truly rolling: a long term plan is in place for the town centre and surrounding areas which is forecasted to attract £1.2bn in public and private sector investment and create 16,000 new jobs over the next 10 years.

Mills
Bolton Council has recognised the importance of the town’s mills for many years and has implemented a strategy setting the agenda for physical change, of which the mills are a big feature. This has focused on maintaining the locations as key providers of accessible business and employment accommodation, but recent years have brought new challenges in the form of ageing assets, declining demand from traditional large floorplate users and development competition for higher value land uses. This means the mills are now one of the most exciting aspect of Bolton’s future.

But, with over 1.5m sq m of floor space, Bolton’s mills not only bring historic or architectural value to the community, but also a massive economic worth if this
is exploited correctly.

Bringing business to Bolton
A big part of the vision for Bolton is to attract businesses to the town. We can build all the affordable, desirable housing in the world, but if we can’t match this by stimulating the local economy and engaging the workforce, then it will just be papering over the cracks. But why would businesses choose Bolton, no matter how up and coming, over the buzzing metropolis just down the road?

Well, because Bolton will be able to offer spacious, high design office space, with good eco credentials, in the town centre for half the price of some of the cramped, dated locations available on the edge of Manchester city centre, with just a 15 minute journey in between.

Is affordable desirable deliverable?
The whole project hinges on whether desirable, sustainable and affordable is deliverable. At über Massclusive, we’ve found a new way of developing properties. It’s not rocket science; it’s just more efficient. By cutting out many of the layers of sub-contractors that are usually involved in the process, we have eliminated a great deal of margins. This, along with innovative building methods, has allowed us to cut the cost of construction by as much as 30 percent.

We can take our own margin and still pass significant savings on to the customer, allowing the average Joe, on the minimum wage, in Bolton, to afford a home which he will want to live in for many years to come. The value of the mills also comes into play. Not only are these fabulous old buildings which serve up the possibility of homes with significantly more appeal than many a new build, but with the building shell already being in place any redevelopment is highly energy efficient and offers savings to residents or businesses alike.

But even with the backing of Bolton Council, we can’t build everything in the town. We’re just one developer. And, for us, the way forward is to bring other developers to the table, show them how we have been able to cut the costs of construction and how this can form part of a bigger plan to reinvigorate Bolton, or similar towns. Co-operating with We have saved as much as 30 percent on our first developments, Atlas Mill and Clegg Hall, and envisage even better value on forthcoming projects. But if others can cut costs by half of that, they can cash in on the opportunities awaiting in Bolton and work with us to make this the town that can show others how to realise the dream.

For more information:
Contact über Massclusive by visiting uberuk.com or Telephone: 01706 508 498 or email: info@uberuk.com