Salford House 4 Life
White’s winning proposal for the Salford House 4 Life competition is landscape lead and
focuses on the creation of social and green spatial solutions for family living. The concept
of community place-making is at the heart of the scheme. The proposal provides a frame-
work for residents of the Greengate community to take pride and ownership of the shared
amenities made available to them. There are no private defendable spaces outside the
building line and residents are encouraged to plant, harvest and occupy the shared green
spaces as they would their own garden.
The proposal combines three house types and three apartment types to accommodate a
diverse community of all ages.
All accommodation benefits from private garden/recreation or play space as well as exten-
sive shared amenity space.
Accommodation is arranged in blocks varying in height from 2.5 - 5 storeys blocks.
The buildings will be brick with glazed balconies/terraces.
The perimeter arrangement of each block creates a walled garden at the centre, which is
accessible to all Greengate community residents. These gardens are conceived as three
very different architypes which refer to familiar landscapes – urban, agricultural and rural
- and each have a different character promoting active and passive approaches to healthy living.
- The Pitch combines parking facilities with an area to play ball sports and raised planting
beds for vegetable growing.
- The Copse combines woodland planting as a habitat for birds and insects with a running
track to promote fitness.
- The Orchard combines blossoming fruit trees for communal harvesting and greenhouses
for cultivating flowers and seasonal plants and a grass court for tennis and picnics.
The main ’Street’ or boulevard, which bisects the development, is treated as a key public space. It is tree lined and terminates with a simple square and copse of trees. There are no residential units at street level along the boulevard – these spaces are reserved for commer- cial use and social spaces.
