Church Wharf Masterplan

Transforming a challenging landscape into a resilient and connected neighbourhood

JH.A developed a comprehensive masterplan for a redundant, flood prone site in Greater Manchester, transforming a challenging landscape into a resilient and connected neighbourhood. The proposal establishes a clear spatial framework that links the adjacent church, the town centre and the ring road through a sequence of new streets, public spaces and mixed use buildings.

  • Feasibility, Masterplan, House typology design

  • Forshaw

  • Feasibility

  • 2023

Apartments with ground floor commercial space activate key routes and act as an urban connector, while a family of six house typologies provides a varied residential offer across the site. Rather than replicating historic forms directly, the housing draws inspiration from the proportions, rhythms and spatial qualities of Victorian housing found across Greater Manchester. Terraces, semi detached homes and prominent corner plots informed a contemporary architectural language with clear vertical proportions, strong street presence and active frontages that reinforce a walkable and legible neighbourhood.

Each house type responds to its position within the masterplan, from key streets and corner sites to quieter residential edges, while maintaining a consistent scale, material approach and relationship between building, pavement and public realm. Entrances are clearly expressed and windows maintain strong vertical rhythms, helping to create active, overlooked streets, while internally the homes provide flexible layouts suited to contemporary living. Sustainability and climate resilience underpin the wider vision. A blue green infrastructure strategy integrates sustainable drainage, attenuation landscapes and flood ponds that manage water across the site while enhancing biodiversity and amenity. Landscaped acoustic buffers mitigate noise from the ring road, allowing the development to balance environmental performance with place making and transform a constrained site into a sustainable and well connected new community.

Sensitive adaptation of industrial architecture

Sensitive adaptation of industrial architecture