What next as prize-winning Centenary Building demolished in £2.5bn Salford Crescent regeneration project

Partners in the £2.5bn Salford Crescent regeneration project confirmed demolition work at the site has finished after starting earlier this year.

A planning application has been submitted by developer ECF to build 263 homes on the land, located off Adelphi Street and not far from Chapel Street.

The Centenary Building won the Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize in 1996, and was regarded as ‘the UK’s best new building’ at the time.

But it had been left sitting empty and unused for years before being knocked down.

In 2024, permission was granted to demolish along with the old Adelphi Building at Peru Street.

Part of a wider transformation in Salford Crescent spanning 240-acres, work taking place in the city aims to create new neighbourhoods and places for business and research.

The new apartments on the site of the former Centenary Building will be known as Old Adelphi, part of the new Adelphi Village neighbourhood, which is being turned into a community of more than 800 homes based to the east of River Irwell.

Old Adelphi features one, two, and three-bedroom apartments and duplexes across two buildings, standing at five and six storeys.

The plans include a third building with 100 apartments.

Green spaces and cycle parking are part of the plans for the neighbourhood, in a bid to boost active travel in the area, and the homes will be surrounded by trees, planting and outdoor space, developers said.

Work is expected to start in spring 2026 if planning permission is granted.

The wider regeneration work is being led by ECF along with partners Salford council and Salford University, with 3,000 new homes in the pipeline in total across the city.

Lawrence Myatt, senior project manager at ECF, said: “Through Crescent Salford, we’re creating communities that are built to last, and this next stage of Adelphi Village will deliver a diverse mix of homes to meet the needs of people in Salford.

“The high-quality homes in Adelphi Village have been designed with sustainability, wellbeing, inclusivity and community in mind, and we look forward to progressing with this next element of the Crescent Salford masterplan as momentum continues.”