Developers Far East Consortium (FEC) has unveiled its vision for the “sustainable regeneration” of Manchester’s Red Bank neighbourhood.
It will create 5,500 new homes within Victoria North.
Working with international design practices Maccreanor Lavington and Schulze+Grassov, FEC has applied its ‘Wild Urbanism’ concept across the Red Bank masterplan, and is aiming to connect the built environment with the urban nature of the River Irk Valley to create what it’s calling “a unique city neighbourhood”.
The vision – which applies ’15-minute neighbourhood’ principles – includes the “prioritisation” of green space, biodiversity and public realm, with just 50% of land within the masterplan dedicated to high-density residential development.
The neighbourhood is expected to provide new homes for a diverse mix of people, and will build a new community with both “long-term infrastructure” and social amenities.
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Other key features within FEC’s masterplan for the largely-brownfield site include a focus on active travel, the revitalisation of St Catherine’s Wood as part of the wider City River Park, improvements to the River Irk, and new social and community facilities – including initial proposals for a new primary school and health centre.
Integral to the regeneration project is a “connected, safe and inviting network of public spaces” where pedestrians and cyclists are prioritised to support healthy and active lifestyles, and FEC says that the strategy has been designed to “increase connectivity” between Red Bank, Collyhurst, Cheetham Hill, New Cross, and Manchester city centre, all while creating an “accessible frontage” the River Irk.
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Far East Consortium (FEC) has unveiled its vision for the “sustainable regeneration” of Manchester’s Red Bank neighbourhood / Credit: Google Maps
£51.6m of investment – which has been secured through a bid by joint venture partner Manchester City Council (MCC) via the government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) – will see the Council deliver critical infrastructure to help “unlock the neighbourhood”, including re-naturalisation of the River Irk, as well as the first phase of the City River Park, site remediation, access routes and new utility connections.
Speaking on the unveiling of the plans, Hilary Brett-Parr – Project Director at FEC – said: “The River Irk and its valley provides an opportunity to create a unique, sustainable, residential community within an incredible setting.
“Our ambition is to establish Red Bank as a key location within Victoria North, unlike anywhere else in the city, providing plenty of access to wild, green spaces within a healthy urban environment for people to live, visit and work.
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“To support the new community in Red Bank, we also recognise the importance of social and community infrastructure and at this early stage have identified locations for a new health centre and primary school needed to allow the new community to flourish.
“We will be working closely with MCC to develop these proposals.”
The regeneration will create 5,500 new homes within Victoria North / Credit: Google Maps
Cllr Gavin White – Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for Housing and Employment – added: “Red Bank has a huge amount of potential, as part of our ambitious Victoria North project, and aside from the overall investment opportunity to deliver 5,500 new homes on this brownfield site, the area lends itself to a bold and innovative approach to development – putting green space, active travel and sustainability at the heart of the investment.
“Red Bank gives us a blank canvas to create from scratch a blueprint for sustainable urban development in this part of North Manchester alongside the River Irk.”
Local residents and stakeholders are invited to view the plans as part of a public consultation programme, with events taking place on 8 and 9 December.
Featured Image – Far East Consortium (FEC)
Manchester
A massive social for Manchester runners is happening in the city centre this winter
Danny Jones
With the bulk of race season nearly over, the local running community is finally starting to wind down and indulge in some well-deserved rest and relaxation – well, that and a sprinkle of clubbing, as the massive Cross Club Social for Manchester runners is back for 2025.
Following a successful sophomore edition last winter, the MCR Cross Club Social is returning for another proper good bash and looks to be shaping up nicely.
Hosted at a brand new venue, with sets from Manc-based DJs, karaoke and even giveaways on the night, the runners are going BIG this year.
So, if you’re part of a local running club or even just a Greater Mancunian who’s partial to a bit of jogging and looking for a night out, you’d best keep 8 November free.
Credit: Cross Club Social
Combining forces once again, the third iteration of the Cross Club Social sees multiple Manchester running clubs putting on one of the biggest parties of the year, with people from all over the community turning up to swap their trainers for dancing shoes.
Ticket prices have crept ever so slightly this year, mainly because of just how well attended the 2025 event was, but also to help raise money for their official charity partner.
However, it goes without saying that all newcomer clubs and solo runners in general and welcome to come along to this year’s event, which is also the first to be held at Fairfield Social Club near Angel Meadows Park – the more the merrier, as far as these lot are concerned.
For example, here’s a taste of the kind of turnout it got last year…
Speaking to The Manc, organiser and resident MC Dave ‘Macca’ McLaughlin said of Cross Club Social 2025: “This event is a celebration of the local running community, by the local running community.
“It’s a great chance to get some of the biggest running clubs in Manchester together to celebrate their achievements of the year without the running kit or carbon-plated trainers.
“It’s a pleasure to organise an event that local runners seemingly love, alongside some of Manchester’s biggest running clubs, all while raising money for our charity partner. Last year, we were able to contribute nearly £400 to their fundraiser, and we’re aiming for even higher this year.
“The demand has been huge – our first event sold out in under 50 minutes, last year was just under two hours at a bigger venue. This year we’re going even bigger to handle the demand, with more clubs than ever and a venue with three separate rooms for different kinds of entertainment.
“Me and Sophie [de Greenlaw – fellow DJ and co-founder] hope to continue expanding the event into a day-long running festival; we’d love to book bigger venues, get more clubs and sponsors involved, and make this a day that every local runner has marked on their calendar. See you there.”
Credit: Supplied
Early bird access will be on sale from 10am this Friday, 10 October, with the general admission tickets going live at the same time next week (17 Oct).
The social itself will run from 5pm until midnight, with last entry at 8:30pm, and you can bank on there being some kind of after-party elsewhere on the night. Get ready to grab your tickets HERE.
It’s also worth noting that the two previous years sold out fast, so make sure you put in a PB-worthy performance when it comes to that online shopping basket if you want to be there.
Once again, the Manchester Runners Cross-club social is a completely non-profit event; all funds from ticket sales go directly towards setting up the next one, back into the running clubs who take part, and to charitable organisations like The MCR 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness.
Lady Gaga is a tour-de-force of talent at the Co-op Live Manchester
Clementine Hall
Lady Gaga proves she’s a truly world-class act after two sold-out nights at the Co-op Live Manchester, as if we needed any reminding.
The city of Manchester has been flooded with harness-wearing, mesh-sporting little monsters over the past two days.
And that’s because the absolute icon that is Lady Gaga brought her ‘Mayhem Ball’ to the Co-op Live for two nights.
I don’t think you’ll find anyone who doesn’t know who this fabulous woman is. Over the past decade, she’s won an Oscar, headlined the Super Bowl, performed in blockbusters alongside Al Pacino, no less, and her songs are literally ingrained into our minds.
It’s been a whole 11 years (yes, really) since she performed in Manchester, and it’s safe to say she was back with a bang.
The performance was split up into five distinct acts, and each one was as exhausting and exhilarating as the next.
She begins the show by bopping out of a comically huge red dress, but this staging was only the start of what madness was about to ensue.
Luckily, we’d been prepared by the other half of the Audio North team, who had the equal privilege of seeing her on night one and were left similarly speechless.
Throughout the 30-song epic, we had crutches, sand pits, cages, skeletons, enough wigs to produce an amateur production of Annie, and we didn’t question any of it. Why would we? It’s Lady Gaga.
Kicking things off with ‘Bloody Mary’, the two and a half hour marathon didn’t leave any stones unturned.
We had all the bangers, from ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Paparazzi’ to ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Applause’, it had us wondering why any other superstar even bothers putting a song out these days.
Pop is in a good place at the moment with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and so on, but you can make a strong case for Gaga having helped pave the way for every lady in the business ever since.
Gaga truly had us in the palm of her hands (or claws at one point), even more so when she left the stage to de-robe and show her more vulnerable side for the last two songs – beanie firmly on.
It wasn’t just a concert: this was a fully-fledged tour de force of talent that Manchester won’t forget any time soon.
Sometimes there’s no point in intellectualising why someone has that ‘X-factor’; sometimes you just have to take a step back and say WOW.
Emily Sergeant -
6th December 2021 
