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Housing scheme includes new wetland habitat
Posted: 05/11/2008
A unique inner city wildlife habitat which is being established right at the heart of New Islington, Manchester’s Millennium Community, has been named as one of the top biodiverse landscaping schemes in the country, in the first ever awards in the UK to focus on the best “green” social housing projects.
Cotton Field is a five acre waterpark with islands, boardwalks and bridges built into the design of a lake framed by a reed bed. The park also features a beach, follies and an area of public open space containing a range of native trees, shrubs and wildflowers that creates a variety of habitats for wildlife.
Nest boxes are designed to attract a range of birds including kingfishers, and innovative low level lighting illuminates the space without impacting on the wildlife. A huge living wall of wire mesh covered with native plants will attract bats and birds while baskets have been installed in the water to provide a habitat for white-clawed crayfish.
The scheme has been shortlisted in the Sustainable Housing Awards, organised by Inside Housing magazine and the first to focus on the best “green” social housing projects constructed in the UK and the organisations responsible for them. The awards will be presented in London on 11 November.
English Partnerships’ Area Director David Chilton, speaking on behalf of the partners, said: “Landscaping work has so often been an afterthought in the past, but here the ecological aspect of regeneration was paramount right from the start. When the waterpark habitat was planned for New Islington it was unique in the UK, and we are extremely proud of the way it has been developed.”
The partners involved in delivering New Islington, Manchester’s Millennium Community are national regeneration agency English Partnerships, developer Urban Splash and urban regeneration agency New East Manchester together with Manchester Methodist Housing Association.
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