Salford Station should have been servicing central Manchester more so that any of its rivals based on location, but no. It was avoided by passengers, hardly used in comparison, not even known by many. With no street presence, poor lighting, poor disabled access, and fraught access generally, it was a station in neglect. Our brief was to change that.

We approached the project from a broader, masterplanning context. As the city centre, through the Spinningfields development, expanded to meet it, we could show the station’s value from a regeneration standpoint and were able to help our client GMPTE benefit from £1.5m funding from the European

Regional Development Fund: a significant proportion of the overall £5m budget.

The initial work claimed a well-lit beacon-style presence at street level by encasing a large area in a glass foyer, currently serving to take the pressure off the upper floor, later to house the ticket office. The access has been transformed for the disabled, including a new ticket counter and toilet; with the general access widened, congestion is reduced. Greater use means the station opens later at night. Regeneration is taking place already adjacent to the station, which in turn will justify further phases of work. The positive spiral has begun.

Salford now has a safer, more accessible and modern station. There are improved ticket buying facilities and better links to bus and taxi facilities, to make it even easier for people to travel. Improvements like this encourage more people to use the rail network.
Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP on opening the station

The team provided excellent service resulting in an excellent design and an excellent building in use
Peter Boulton – Head of Programme Management Services, GMPTE