IN Brief:
- The proposed Aldridge tower would rise 166 metres and provide 556 one- and two-bedroom apartments in Greengate.
- The scheme combines a brick podium and glazed upper façade with proposed shell and core refurbishment of Collier Street Baths.
- Consultation closes on 22 November 2026; a December 2027 construction start remains conditional on securing consent.
Renaker has begun public consultation on a proposed 54-storey residential tower in Salford’s Greengate district, advancing plans for a further 556 apartments alongside work to a listed historic building. The Aldridge development would rise approximately 166 metres on land near Collier Street, Queen Street, and Trinity Way. Designed by Denton Corker Marshall, the proposal remains at pre-application stage: the consultation is not a planning permission, and no construction contract or start on site has yet been confirmed.
The design combines a two-storey brick podium with a taller volume expressed through glass and aluminium cladding. One- and two-bedroom apartments are proposed above active ground-floor frontages, while residents’ facilities would include a swimming pool and gym. A distinctive crown is proposed at the upper levels, although the precise material specifications, structural solution, and construction sequence have not been disclosed. These details will require scrutiny when a formal application and its supporting technical reports are lodged with Salford City Council.
Renaker envisages a December 2027 start, subject to planning approval, followed by approximately three and a half years of construction. That would place a substantial new housing programme into the late-2020s pipeline, but it is a developer timetable rather than an approved delivery schedule. Construction mobilisation would depend on a successful planning process and subsequent design and procurement decisions. No fixed completion date should be inferred from the consultation alone, particularly given the combination of new high-rise work and interventions to protected fabric.
Renaker’s neighbouring Colliers Yard scheme comprises three planned residential towers and 1,521 homes at full build-out, together with streets, retail units, and public space. Cortland and Bankside have completed, while Parkside has been progressing through construction. Aldridge is a separate proposal beyond that original three-tower programme, so its 556 apartments would represent additional accommodation rather than a revision of the published Colliers Yard total. Existing residential access and the surrounding street network form part of the setting in which the proposed development would be assessed.
The Grade II* listed Collier Street Baths form another component of the proposal. Opened in 1855 and designed by Thomas Worthington, the former baths would receive what Renaker describes as shell and core refurbishment to prepare the protected structure for potential future uses. The proposed works are not the same as a completed restoration and fit-out for a named occupier. No confirmed end use, finished internal specification, or operating arrangement has been identified in the current consultation material.
Refurbishment of the baths would require a different approach from constructing the adjacent residential tower. Design work must establish which elements of historic fabric are to be retained, repaired, or altered, and how new services and access arrangements would affect the protected structure. The treatment of the baths and the visual impact of a 166-metre building are separate heritage considerations even though they are presented within one development proposal. The published material has not set out a detailed conservation repair schedule or an itemised budget for the listed-building element.
Public-realm proposals include pocket parks, improved walking connections, and spaces around the baths and adjoining streets. Reporting on the consultation identifies approximately 1,806 square metres of new public realm, although its final geometry and management arrangements will be determined through the design process. At ground level, the relationship between the podium, neighbouring frontages, and pedestrian routes will be as important as the profile visible on the skyline. Those interfaces affect servicing, accessibility, and the usability of streets between existing and proposed buildings.
A tall building on a confined urban plot would also need a construction strategy for deliveries, lifting, temporary works, and access to adjoining properties. The foundations, structural frame, and tower crane arrangement have not yet been specified, so there is no basis for assigning a particular piling method or construction system to Aldridge. Detailed logistics proposals would need to account for neighbouring occupiers and the separate condition of the historic baths. They will become assessable when planning documents and subsequent contractor information establish the proposed sequence of works.
The consultation runs until 22 November 2026, with an in-person exhibition advertised for 11 November at Bankside Boulevard. Responses will inform any revision of the scheme before submission. A formal application would then provide the basis for assessing residential amenity, transport, townscape, heritage, and environmental effects. Planning conditions and any associated obligations would only be settled through that subsequent process, giving the construction market clearer evidence on what is likely to be built and when.
Consultation closes on 22 November, with Renaker targeting a December 2027 start and a programme lasting around three and a half years if consent is obtained. Salford City Council has yet to determine any planning application for the scheme. The next formal evidence of delivery will be the submitted application and its technical assessments, followed by a planning decision. Until then, the 556 apartments, public-realm works, and proposed baths refurbishment remain elements of a developer-led proposal, not a consented construction project.
