The choice of location this week is one that is very close to my heart: the top of Blackfriars Road at the junction with Trinity Way.

The top photo was taken back in 2014 and shows what was at the time a hugely underutilised site which was occupied by a series of low rise workshop/ office buildings, car parking, and the derelict Grade II listed Black Friar (which, by this time, had been closed for around 20 years).

To provide context the building to the left is the Grade II* listed Manchester Tennis & Raquet Club and on the right is the 600 apartment Spectrum development by Dandara, designed by OMI Architects and completed in 2009.

The bottom photo shows the transformation that has taken place over the past decade with the delivery of the Local Blackfriars scheme by Salboy - their first project.

Designed by 5plus architects and Jon Matthews Architects and delivered by Domis Construction the scheme, comprising two blocks 12 and 16 storeys in height, introduced 383 homes, including apartments and townhouses. It opened up the site with active frontages bringing activity to Trinity Way, Garden Lane and Blackfriars Road.

The Grade II listed Black Friar pub - now The Blackfriar Salford - was fully and sensitively refurbished and to quote their website is now ‘a true harmony of old and new’.

Despite being outside established Development Frameworks at the time (with significant delivery underway to the east at Greengate), Local Blackfriars went on to play an important role in the delivery of other major residential developments in close proximity, including Salboy’s 26 storey Obsidian (250 homes) - designed by Studio Power and also currently being delivered by Domis Construction - and Fifty5ive: a further development by Salboy, also designed by Jon Matthews Architects, comprising 220 homes and combining the old Copperworks building on King Street, and a separate site on Queen Street.