Riverside Quarter
£180m GDV GDV — Residential Mixed Tenure
£180m
GDV
113
Affordable Units
25%
Affordable Provision
£9.2m
Remediation Cost
4.2 ha
Site Area
14 months
Planning Consent
Riverside Quarter is a landmark 450-unit residential development on a former industrial site on the banks of the River Irwell in Salford. The mixed-tenure scheme delivers a range of affordable and market sale properties, anchored around a new public waterfront promenade. Affintis LLP was appointed at pre-application stage to provide development viability and affordable housing advisory services throughout the planning and delivery lifecycle.
Client
Salford City Developments Ltd
Sector
Residential Mixed Tenure
Location
Manchester
Completion
2023
Services Provided
- Development Viability Assessment
- Affordable Housing Negotiation
- S106 Structuring
- Viability Review Mechanism
- Expert Advice to Planning Committee
A complex brownfield site requiring significant remediation costs while maintaining affordable housing policy compliance. The site had a legacy of industrial contamination requiring a £9.2m remediation programme. The local authority's adopted policy required 35% affordable housing, which the developer's initial viability assessment showed was undeliverable alongside the infrastructure and remediation costs. A dispute had already arisen between the applicant and the council before Affintis was appointed.
Affintis undertook a detailed financial viability assessment in line with national planning practice guidance, independently verifying the remediation cost estimates and benchmarking the developer's profit assumptions against comparable schemes. We worked collaboratively with the council's appointed assessors in a transparent open-book process, enabling a shared understanding of the viability position. A phased 106 agreement was structured, with early-phase affordable housing delivery and a review mechanism triggered at 50% and 75% build-out stages.
Successfully negotiated a 25% affordable housing provision with a revised tenure mix, enabling the scheme to proceed. The review mechanism ultimately delivered an additional 18 affordable units at phase 2 as land values improved. The scheme achieved planning consent within 14 months of appointment and commenced on site in Q3 2022.