STALYBRIDGE, GREATER MANCHESTER
URBAN SPLASH INTRODUCING LONGLANDS
Once famous for its cotton industry, Stalybridge is a charming town that has been through a major process of regeneration. The Town Centre has been transformed, with investment by the public and private sectors creating new shops and leisure facilities. On the edge of the town centre is Longlands, formerly Longlands Mill, one of Stalybridge’s most important cotton mills.
Urban Splash is picking up where the cotton industry left off, bringing this once thriving mill back to life. Homes, shops, cafés, gardens and the communities they attract will revive the site, perfectly nestled between the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the banks of the River Tame.
The buildings at Longlands combine the best of the old with the best of the new; the original mill is being refurbished into stunning loft apartments, while new buildings create dynamic spaces for living and leisure.
Urban Splash is working with Tameside Metropolitan Council to regenerate the whole area. Located on the edge of Greater Manchester Stalybridge enjoys easy access to the countryside and to Manchester itself. Quite simply it is a fabulous location, the best of all worlds.
This place now has an exciting new life to look forward to, and so do its prospective residents.
01 AN ILLUSTRATION OF PATTERN HOUSE BY SPACE CRAFT ARCHITECTS 03 THE STORY OF LONGLANDS
The oldest surviving cotton mill in the area, Castle Street Mill, was built in 1805. It was a boom time for Manchester’s textile industry and there were already eight mills in Stalybridge. Eight mills, or 76,000 spindles.
Founder George Cheetham struck while the cotton was high, adding to his four storey building with new spinning blocks in the 1820s. But in 1896, the Boulton & Watt engines fell silent for the first time in decades, and it was another ten years before the Longlands Mill Company stepped in and revived the place.
Longlands was a working mill until 1961, when the production of rayon put lots of cotton manufacturers out of business. This place saw the birth, growth and death of an industry. It’s a beautiful building, full of the echoes of life and work.
You’ll see evidence of the Cheetham family’s standing everywhere here, art galleries, parks, nature reserves and blue plaques all bear their name. And in Longlands, you can see where it all began. We think George Cheetham would be happy to know that we’ve found a new life for his mill, safeguarding its future. It was a bold development then and it’s a bold development now - we’re excited to be part of Longlands’ latest adventure.
01 THE INTERIOR OF LONGLANDS MILL IN 2005 BEFORE RESTORATION WORK BEGAN 01 02 AN ILLUSTRATION OF LONGLANDS FROM ACROSS THE RIVER TAME
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05 WE ARE URBAN SPLASH
Established in 1993 by Tom Bloxham and Jonathan Falkingham, Urban Splash is still driven by the original vision to develop disused industrial sites into landmark buildings and places to live, work and enjoy. For that, we are developers with a difference - we’re not here to just rip it up and start again. We revive buildings and places with outstanding architecture and a consideration for the past, present and the future.
We work on the basis that any redevelopment is about more than just bricks and mortar. It’s about using enlightened design, creating new communities and enhancing people’s lifestyles; it’s about building places that work for the people living in them and the towns and cities beyond. As a result, we’re behind some of the most exciting urban regeneration in the UK.
01 TIMBER WHARF, CASTLEFIELD, MANCHESTER 02 MOHO, CASTLEFIELD, MANCHESTER 03 BREWHOUSE, ROYAL WILLIAM YARD, PLYMOUTH 04 SILK WAREHOUSE, LISTER MILLS, BRADFORD 05 BUDENBERG HAUS PROJEKTE, ALTRINCHAM, CHESHIRE 01
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THE NEW LONGLANDS
Longlands Mill is just waiting to come back to life. It’s all about contrast and balance - old and new, town and country, thoroughly modern living spaces with the timeless appeal of the river bank and countryside on your doorstep... the best of both worlds, with an Urban Splash twist.
THIS IS HOW IT’S GOING TO WORK...
We’re developing in phases, starting with the renovation of the old mill, the listed remnants of Cheetham’s Castle Street Mill. Life in The Mill is all about those contrasts that make this place what it is. It’s contemporary, but you’ll also see the beams, pillars and brickwork that are the bones of a building that’s been here for two centuries.
The Mill will be joined by Pattern House. Brand spanking new, this place is about floor to ceiling windows and natural light, generous, open spaces with all the clever, considered twists and turns that define our homes. A second phase of development will see two additional buildings go up next door to Pattern House, and a third phase will continue opposite the Longlands site, alongside the canal.
Outdoors is important too. We want the gardens to feel like somewhere to live, a communal extension to the home. That’s why we’re going to bring together texture, scent, colour, intricate detail and simple, spacious expanses. And with cafés and shops settled in downstairs, Longlands will be a place to love living.
01 AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE MILL AND PATTERN HOUSE, LONGLANDS, FROM CASTLE STREET, SHOWING THE NEW GROUND FLOOR COMMERCIAL SPACES 09 THE ARCHITECTS
Longlands is special. Space Craft are suitably special architects. These people know how to build in a way that nurtures and supports surroundings. Great architecture, especially where renovation is concerned, A practice set up in 2003 by people with years of experience and an is about complementing, not dominating. absolute passion for the very best in architectural practice. Space Craft has quickly established an international reputation for outstanding, award winning work.
We chose them because they rejuvenate places. Not just buildings, but whole areas, and that’s what we like doing. Space Craft will create new public spaces, gardens, new routes around and through the development, new shops, new restaurants, all introduced with empathy for the long 01 AN ILLUSTRATION OF A THIRD FLOOR APARTMENT IN THE MILL 02 THE MILL, LONGLANDS, APARTMENT WITH BARREL VAULTED CEILING established surroundings of The Mill. 03 PATTERN HOUSE, LONGLANDS, STRIKING CONTEMPORARY DESIGN WITH FULL HEIGHT GLAZING TO THE APARTMENTS
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11 STALYBRIDGE
Birthplace of the world’s first brass band. Home to the pub with the longest name in the UK. Also home to the pub with the shortest name in the UK. Well, why not?
Nicknamed Little Venice, on account of the waterways that meander through the streets of the town centre. And on weekends, nicknamed Stalyvegas, simply because a Friday night here makes the Haçienda’s heyday look like a teddy bears’ picnic. Call it what you like, Stalybridge is a trailblazer of a town.
Manchester city centre is just eight miles to the west. To the east, and you’re in another world, teetering on the brink of the beautiful Chew Valley and the brooding Pennine hills. There’s no denying that Stalybridge is special, not least because of the places you can get to, in moments, when you leave it.
It’s special because it’s got everything - a real history, an exciting future, a habit of standing out and doing things differently. It’s got all this and everything you need to love living somewhere - independent shops, beautiful parks, public squares, nature reserves and 40 pubs.
It’s life, not as you know it, but as you should.
01 THE HUDDERSFIELD NARROW CANAL RUNS THROUGH STALYBRIDGE TOWN CENTRE AND BORDERS THE SOUTHERN SIDE OF THE LONGLANDS SITE 02 STALYBRIDGE TOWN CENTRE 01 03 JOGGING AND FISHING ALONG THE CANAL TOWPATH IN STALYBRIDGE
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13 MANCHESTER INTO THE CITY
Everything that’s great about Stalybridge - river banks, country parks, greenery and easy pace - is comprehensively counter balanced by Manchester’s wide streets, city squares, maverick urban architecture and 24 hour entertainment. This city’s reputation precedes it, so a list of visit-worthy places reads like an exercise in name dropping - Lowry, Urbis, G-Mex, Bridgewater Hall, Affleck’s Palace, The Royal Exchange... that’s only the start of it.
Manchester is great for mooching, feeding, browsing, buying, living it up, slowing it down, just getting lost... a wander can be an event in itself. You’ll find quirky shopping in the Northern Quarter, world class exhibitions at Manchester Art Gallery (then there’s the other 90 or so galleries and museums Manchester is home to) and kicked-back eateries and bars all over. All of this only a 12 minute train journey away.
There’s a bounty of boutiques and the irresistible Harvey Nichols when only a bank-breaking shop will do. Real big spenders can follow up with dinner at any number of award winning, deliciously indulgent restaurants. Manchester has the oldest symphony orchestra in the UK, 01 more than 30 intimate live music venues, and an enviable bank of sporting facilities. Salford Quays, Castlefield, the Curry Mile, Smithfield Market, Chinatown... Manchester indulges everybody and every taste. And if you want to keep it fresh with visits to other cities, you’re really well connected to Bradford, Sheffield, Liverpool and Leeds, just in case one Harvey Nichols isn’t enough.
Best of all, you get to roll back home to Longlands when you’re all done with the bright lights and the big city. This is town and country life, with everything that’s alluring about both, within moments.
01 HARVEY NICHOLS, MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE 02 THE TRIANGLE AND PRINTWORKS IN EXCHANGE SQUARE, MANCHESTER 03 URBIS 04 MANCHESTER’S NORTHERN QUARTER IS HOME TO LOADS OF INDEPENDENT SHOPS, RESTAURANTS AND BARS 02
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15 LIFE ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER TAME
The River Tame flows from the foot of the Pennines to Stockport, where it joins the River Goyt and together they roll eastwards in the form of the River Mersey. Half way along its journey, it ripples through Stalybridge, and right past Longlands.
Like the textile merchants of the past, we’re keen to make the most of the river, only we’re putting it to a very different use. Everyone at Longlands will be able to enjoy the water, with communal gardens that drop right down to the bank.
See what drifts, flits or swims past…ducks, geese, moorhens.... if you’re especially still, you might be joined by a heron. You’ll be mixing with all kinds of butterflies, and in summer you’ll see the bright flashes of dragonflies and damselflies darting across the top of the water.
The Tame, having shed its industrial past, is now home to eight species of fish, including trout. Most magical of all, you might glimpse the kingfisher, one of the most beautiful treats life on the river bank offers up.
On the south side of Longlands is the newly restored Huddersfield Narrow Canal, handy if you like boating.
01 FISHING IN THE RIVER TAME, STALYBRIDGE TOWN CENTRE
25 THE GARDENS AT LONGLANDS
The transformation of The Mill and the brave new Pattern House are just the start of life at Longlands. There’s a great big outdoors that’s all part of the living here - it’s an extension to the home, somewhere for living to continue.
We couldn’t help but draw inspiration from our surroundings. There’s so much drama in the colour and texture of the countryside around Stalybridge, it had to play a leading role.
We’ve recreated distinct Pennine habitats in raised courtyards running between buildings. Dark, blue coloured slate scree runs in a band towards the water; next door undulating banks of purple heather and long grasses recreate the patchwork of the Pennine moorlands. And there’s no reason a flock of sheep shouldn’t feature - they too are a staple Pennine sight, and so our sheep pods appear as an art feature, informal seating, or play objects.
Down by the water, we’ve got loose, textural stippa grass, natural planting like meadowsweet, ivy and periwinkle and rushes to give that out-in-the-wilds feel. Pontoons over the water are the perfect picnicking hang out, and a weeping willow provides a shady patch of snoozing space near the river. Grassy banks roll gently down to the water, opening this site up to The Tame for the first time in a century.
This is all season landscaping. We’ve created somewhere that will have its own beauty throughout the year, just like the Peaks and the Pennines beyond. Well, our summers are short, but what summers they’ll be…
27 STILL FULL OF BEANS?
There are a million things to do. Here’s just a handful, but don’t be distracted from exploring for yourself, you’re bound to find a million more.
k Head out to Dovestone Sailing Club where for a modest fee you can join up and learn to windsurf, canoe, kayak or yacht. If all else fails, there is a bar.
k Picnic like there’s no tomorrow! Try Stamford Park with its aviaries and boating lake, Cheetham Park with its own nature reserve, or freestyle it out on the hills and moors.
k Follow the Blue Plaque Trail, there are 16 in Stalybridge that’ll take you on a decent meander around town, and if you’re going to do it properly, you’ll find yourself in a few pubs too, home to several of the plaques.
k Explore the territory between home and city and get to the new Smithfields market in Openshawe for the freshest of fresh produce and Sunday car boot sale goodies worth scrapping over.
k Your boots just made for walking? Then that’s just what they should do… there are lots of routes from Longlands - up the Tame Valley is a nice one - or you can follow the canal towpath for miles, knowing you’ll never get lost.
k Get involved and throw yourself into a leading role in the Stalybridge Carnival Parade which takes place each June.
k Give a little something back and sign up as a countryside voluntary ranger, which could find you dry stone walling, tree planting or leading guided walks. The council organises taster days for anyone interested.
k Take to the canal waters - you can get a short jaunt on the Staly Rose from Uppermill at weekends, or give it a week and you can do the whole Huddersfield Narrow Canal, including the journey through Stanedge Tunnel, the UK’s longest, deepest, spookiest canal tunnel. 01
k Go to Stalybridge Station Buffet for a leisurely, fuss-free lunch - it’s all homemade favourites and locally brewed real ale here. This place is so good, people break their train journey just to drop in.
01 LOOKING ACROSS DOVESTONE RESERVOIR 02 SITUATED AT STALYBRIDGE RAILWAY STATION ON THE MAIN LINE BETWEEN MANCHESTER AND HUDDERSFIELD, THE STATION BUFFET IS RENOWNED FOR TWO REASONS: IT’S MOST LIKELY THE LAST TRADITIONAL BUFFET IN THE COUNTRY; AND IT IS DEDICATED TO SERVING A WIDE RANGE OF GUEST REAL ALES. FOR A DRINKING EXPERIENCE IN A LOCALE THAT IS PART PUB, PART MUSEUM AND 02 PART WAITING ROOM, HEAD FOR PLATFORM ONE. 29 Stamford Grove St George’s St
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A6 31 THE PENNINE WAY
Over the hills and not so far away at all is the start of the Peak District, Britain’s first national park and home to 1,600 glorious miles of public rights of way and 58 miles of dedicated off-road cycle tracks.
Home to the southern swathe of the Pennine range, the park is a spectrum of landscapes, all alluring in their own way. Down in the south is the White Peak; so soft, lush and rolling, it looks almost unreal. But it doesn’t lack scale - go to Tissington to see the natural limestone spires, or the Manifold Valley to explore deep, limestone gorges.
Up in the north, nearer to Stalybridge, is the Dark Peak. Think Wuthering Heights. Think wild, windy moors and dramatic, brooding sweeps of heathery hillside. In 1932, hundreds of ramblers trespassed onto the dark, peaty Kinder Scout, in protest at the lack of public access to the hills. These people literally fought for the right to walk round here - we’re almost duty bound to follow and enjoy.
Kinder Scout is the highest point in the national park, at 636 metres. That’s just about enough to wake you up on a Sunday morning. It’s also enough to give you that top of the world feeling.
Elsewhere in the Peak District, you’ll find picture postcard villages, complete with traditional summer ‘well-dressings’ and May Day fêtes. Almost half of the 540 square mile park is farmed land. It’s home to almost 3,000 listed buildings, around 4,000 miles of dry stone wall and some of the best climbing in the world. Across the Peaks you’ll find places where you can’t hear traffic, can’t see roads and if you pick your moment, won’t see people. Which, from time to time, is just what you need.
33 WALKING OUT AND ABOUT NEAR STALYBRIDGE
Who was it who said that walking was mans’ greatest medicine? That’s it… Hippocrates. Not that he wandered much round Stalybridge, but if he had been born any nearer, he would have been up and down the Brushes Road as often as Jethro Tinker. The routes around Brushes Valley, Walkerwood Reservoir and Hollingworth Moor are, as walks in the Stalybridge area go, classics. And the starting point is a pub. You couldn’t really ask for much more.
Stalybridge Country Park is about a mile north of the town centre, and it incorporates Brushes Valley. The walks will take you through a real variety of habitats and terrains, from open moorland to wooded, grassy valleys. All routes are well signposted, and you can tailor a walk so it’s just long enough to suit. Simply following the track that runs alongside Walkerwood Reservoir, then up to the Swineshaw Reservoirs, you’ll see plenty of wildlife including pheasants and grouse, and vibrant purple rhododendrons right along the water’s edge in early summer.
If the mood takes you, follow one of the paths up to the tops - you can head up to Harridge Pike to the north, or Hollingworthall Moor to the south. On clear days both afford panoramic views that make the walk more than worthwhile, across the whole of the Peak District, all of the north-west and into Wales. Even on a grey day the city is mapped out as a sky line, with Ian Simpson’s blade-like Beetham Tower standing proud of everything. And look… there’s Longlands, between you and the city, and you can barely believe you’re in the same part of the world.
35 WALKING ADVENTURES FURTHER AFIELD
Sun comes up, it’s Saturday morning, you skipped the legendary Stalyvegas nightlife last night, so you’re all raring to go and you want a walk you can really feel. It’s probably time to head up to Dovestones, suitably attired and with flask in hand. Locals and visitors alike consider this one of the most beautiful parts, well, of the world. And so it is in its way… with its high peaks, sweeping valleys, glassy reservoirs and dark, brooding craggy edges.
Starting out at Dovestone Reservoir you can create your own walk through the valley. To take it to its full nine mile conclusion not only means you’ve earned a good feed at the Stalybridge station buffet, but also that you’re going to see some of the most remarkable offerings of the Dark Peak.
You’ll see the foreboding Ravenstones and the precarious Trinnacle, an untidy stack of gritstone slabs teetering over the valley. You’ll see the rocky cascades of water heading down from Saddleworth Moor into the reservoirs below. To the south is the expansive, wind-beaten moorland and peaty tops of the Dark Peak; to the north, the green sides of the hills opposite, and in between, water so still that it looks like a mirror.
That’s when the flask of tea should come out. And maybe the camera. It’s time to take in the view, kick back for a moment, and lap up a very simple pleasure. It’s what weekends were made for, really. Repeat as required in other nearby beauty spots such as Bleaklow, Derwent Water, Malham Cove, Stanedge Edge, until absolutely immersed in the rambling way of life.
37 THE TEAM
DEVELOPER Urban Splash
ARCHITECT Space Craft
CONSTRUCTION Urban Splash Build
QUANTITY SURVEYOR Simon Fenton Partnership
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER Elliot Wood
PLANNING SUPERVISOR Rawlings
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY McCoy Wynne Associates
JETHRO TINKER IMAGES Jonathan Keenan Photography
ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY Photoflex and Shaw and Shaw
COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGES Uniform Limited
COPY Heather Ditch at Native
PRINT Hill Shorter
DESIGN Urban Splash
39 URBAN SPLASH 07000 37 37 37 WWW.URBANSPLASH.CO.UK WWW.LONGLANDSSTALYBRIDGE.CO.UK
100 VANILLA FACTORY 43 FLEET STREET LIVERPOOL L1 4AQ T: +44 (0) 151 708 9449 F: +44 (0) 151 708 9559
TIMBER WHARF 16 - 22 WORSLEY STREET CASTLEFIELD MANCHESTER M15 4LD T: +44 (0) 161 839 2999 F: +44 (0) 161 839 8999
DISCLAIMER
This brochure has been published before construction work has been finalised and is designed to be illustrative of the development. Whilst these particulars are believed to be correct, their accuracy can not be guaranteed and during the course of construction there may be some variation to them. Purchasers and tenants are given notice that: 1. These particulars do not constitute any part of an offer or contract. 2. All statements made in these particulars are made without reponsibility on the part of the agents or the developer. 3. None of the statements contained in these particulars are to be relied upon as statement or representation of fact. 4. Any intended purchaser or tenant must satisfy him/herself by inspection or otherwise as to the correctness of each of the statements contained in these particulars. 5. The developer does not make or give, nor any person in their employment has any authority to make or give any representation or warranty whatever in relation to Longlands, The Mill or Pattern House or any part of them. 6. The selling agents do not make or give, nor any person in their employment has any authority to make or give any representation or warranty whatever in relation to Longlands, The Mill or Pattern House or any part of them. 7. Date of publication May 2007.