Does Salford hold the Quay to the property crisis?

The skyline down at Salford Quays is changing rapidly as a small army of cranes continue apace with the construction of MediaCityUK.

 

With 1,000 construction workers on site it is one of the biggest building zones in Europe and they have already erected 6,000 tonnes of steel frame work, poured 43,000 cubic meters of concrete and invested more than three million man hours to get the project this farm

 

Worked started in June 2006 and will finish in 2011 when the BBC relocates five departments currently based in London. On the other sdie of the old docks, watching all this activity unfold, is the sail topped building of Abito at Clippers Quay. Its distinctive roof, made from the same material that was used in the Millennium Dome, gives some indication that this is no ordinary apartment scheme and its just as unique inside.

 

The entrance is through huge steel doors and you walk up bare concrete steps into a soaring space that has the feel of a futuristic film set. The apartments are ringed around this central core which is not sealed so you have some idea of what the weather is doing outside.

 

These innovative pods have been tweaked and improved since the first Abito at Greengate in Salford with the architects BDP sticking with the box within a box principal but adding a full size bathroom and improving the specification with glossy finished storage and a Corian finished surface in the kitchen.

 

The standard ones are honed to minimal efficiency but the top two floors at Clippers offer something different – along with one of the most stunning views of any development out not only to MediaCityUK but the Imperial War Museum and Old Trafford, and on the other side Manchester city centre. Here Ask has delivered more traditional two bedroom apartments. Again with the same clean lines, wooden floor, glossy kitchens and great bathrooms but they also have 700 sq ft terraces where for any Reds fan it would be the perfect place for a pre-match toast. There are just sixe of these apartments raning in price for £180,000 to £200,000, available and views vary depending on what side of the building they are on. And Ask are working hard to get first time buyers in here with a rent to buy option, where the rent acts as a deposit if you decide to buy at the end of a 12 month tenancy and hopefully soon at Home Buy option.

 

They are among several developers bidding for £30m of government money to encourage buyers into the market by letting them own a whole property for a 70% stake, no rent to pay on the remainder and the option to buy more over the years.

 

It gives buyers a 30% cushion should the market fall completely – but also allows them to take advantage of any reduction in values.

 

It would bring an Abito in at under £60,000 – and crucially the Council of Mortgage Lenders seems to agree that the 30% from the government can act as a deposit.

 

Duncan Bowman from Ask said: “We have 42 units here that we want to offer to buyers under the Home Buy scheme and we would hope to make them available very soon. It is a difficult market but we know Abito offers something very different in a great location and people can see for themselves how close it is to MediaCityUK.”