Limelight
Situated on Shrewsbury Street, The Limelight development is part of The Old Trafford Masterplan which aims to create a vibrant, sustainable community, with quality housing, excellent environment, and good connections to employment opportunities together with improved retail and community facilities.
October 2013 saw the inception of the journey that Trafford Housing Trust and Old Trafford Community were to embark up on, with plans for the new Shrewsbury Street Community and Health Development known as Limelight. The Community have been involved throughout the process, helping to shape and influence the plans, with hundreds of people contributing in various ways such as drop in sessions, one to ones, talking at local events and attending special visioning events.
The exceptional input from the Community alongside the information gathered by a team of neighbourhood researchers, who interviewed local residents, provided great feedback for the Trafford Housing Trust, which in turn enabled them to develop the designs that guide the principles of the project.
In order to confirm the information from the community regarding the vision and values, Trafford Housing Trust commissioned Kaizen to carry out a survey. Kaizen are a social business, specialising in engagement, consultation working with communities and during October 2014, supported by the Community Researchers and Trafford Housing Trust Youth Board they spoke to just under 1,000 people for their views on the scheme.
Taking pride of place on Shrewsbury Street, the new Church and Rectory for St. Brides are now complete. Providing the ideal space for St. Bride’s congregation, the sites also provide a great space for the local community.
The build incorporated environmentally sustainable materials, less energy-using equipment and up-to-date insulation. The church kitchen avoids fossil fuel and the heating system will be more efficient with the whole building operating like a giant storage heater.
The Church isn’t completely brand new as several items of historic interest have been saved from the old buildings and integrated into the new one, including date stones, terracotta mouldings and the original Church bell.
Held on the 6th March 2016, a day of celebration with a dedication service took place and was attended by the Bishop of Middleton.
Construction has started on the main building for Limelight and is progressing well. The steel frame for the ground floor is finished and developments have commenced on the first floor. The scheme is on programme to complete in Autumn 2017. The contractors, Willmott Dixon, have installed a live webcam onsite to enable viewers online to keep up with the works on a daily basis.
