A planning application for a new acoustics building, within Crescent Salford’s innovation zone, has been submitted by the University of Salford.
Morgan Sindall Construction has been appointed to the project and, subject to planning, expects to start work on site this summer, completing in spring 2027.
Within the 29-acre Crescent Innovation area, which lies north of the university’s Peel Park campus, the building will be on a former industrial site on Lissadel Street.
The 1,300 sqm building aims to provide a new facility to house the teaching, research and commercial activities of the University of Salford acoustics department and will replace an existing facility within the Newton Building in the Peel Park campus. It will go in the Innovation Quarter along Frederick Road, continuing the redevelopment of the area.
The project represents the second staging post in the creation of Crescent Innovation, following work commencing on Salford Rise in September.
The appointment of Morgan Sindall – via the North West Construction Hub (NWCH), High Value Construction Framework Lot 1 – represents the latest stage in a collaborative relationship between the contractor and the university, which has seen the construction of the Science, Engineering & Environment Building (SEE Building) and the North of England Robotics Innovation Centre (NERIC).
The new, all electric building will include photovoltaic panels as part of its highly efficient building services design. Isolated acoustic testing chambers in the building have been designed to be accessible with level thresholds achieved by recessing chambers into the floor slab.
Morgan Sindall Construction area director Steven Greogry said: “Over recent years it has been our privilege to deliver several world-class new facilities for the staff and students at this brilliant university, and we are thrilled to be renewing our relationship on this brilliant new project.”
The university’s director of acoustics, Trevor Cox, said: “Sound is integral to life and so the work we’ll do in this building will impact the public. To take one example, we might be working with industry and government to reduce the harms to health that noise creates. The new laboratories will help us to forge a better sounding future.”
