FreshStart buys former Trafford Press HQ
FRESHSTART Living has bought the former headquarters of Trafford Press on Chester Road in Old Trafford.
The Swinton-based company now plans a £9m development which will contain 116 apartments across five buildings.
The company hopes to start on site with the project in June and will look to complete work within two years.
FreshStart Living specialises in buying empty or under-performing properties. Trafford Press had been empty for five years after previous attempts to redevelop it had failed.
The company said that it has already forward-sold two-thirds of the apartments to the buy-to-let market, with investor landlords purchasing 80 of the 116 properties.
Martin Ellerby, design and acquisitions director at FreshStart Living, said: “The conversion of Trafford Press is an exciting opportunity to save a unique piece Manchester’s industrial heritage and will help to breathe new life into the Old Trafford neighbourhood.
“Our company ethos is to ‘recycle’ existing buildings, attracting new residents to a neighbourhood – residents that can support local shops and services and contribute to sustainable communities.
The scheme will consist of new build apartments built around the Trafford Press and Veno’s buildings. The original Grade II listed façades will be retained, and inside a mix of one, two- and three-bed apartments will be built across the five blocks, which range in height from three to six storeys. The development will also contain 6,200 sq ft of commercial space on the ground floor and 117 parking spaces.
FreshStart Living was set up in 2009 and has already completed a refurbishment of two former local authority tower blocks – Madison Court in Salford and Bispham House in Liverpool.
