"Obsidian will deliver beautifully and thoughtfully designed homes for people who want to live a stone’s throw from everything that Manchester and Salford have to offer without compromising on quality and comfort"
- Simon Ismail - Salboy
Nationwide property development and funding company, Salboy Group and DOMIS, Salboy’s dedicated construction partner, have launched their tenth central Manchester development in seven years, to deliver more urgently-needed homes to the city’s fast-growing population.
The scheme, named Obsidian, will be located in the Greengate area towards the north of Manchester city centre and will comprise a 26-storey tower of 250 units: 30 studios, 93 one-bed, 110 two-bed and 15 three-bed apartments.
The scheme, which will have a GDV of £84.5m, will be delivered by DOMIS, and marketed and sold by Salboy. Works have already commenced on site and are expected to complete by Q4 2026.
Rising up from a narrow and complex slice of brownfield land (at the intersection of Trinity Way and William Street), Obsidian puts efficient living and space-saving at its heart.
The scheme’s studio apartments will maximise floor space for occupants. Features including hideaway beds, collapsible tables, built-in office cabinetry and slide-away kitchen panels prevent any wasted space in residents’ living areas.
All residents will enjoy access to high-quality communal amenities including a private dining room, gym, cinema room, coworking spaces and package storage. At the base of the building there will be 1,000 sq ft of commercial space.
Architecturally ambitious, the development which has been designed by Studio Power, is crafted to attract younger residents - both students and young professionals who have chosen Manchester to pursue their studies and careers. ONS data shows that Greater Manchester has more young people aged 20 to 29 years old living in the region than any other region in the UK.
Simon Ismail, Managing Director of Salboy, comments: “The schemes we develop with younger professional people in mind are often some of the most complex and creative - bringing together modern designs, compact inner-city locations and our future residents’ discerning tastes.
"Obsidian will deliver beautifully and thoughtfully designed homes for people who want to live a stone’s throw from everything that Manchester and Salford have to offer without compromising on quality and comfort.”
Obsidian is Salboy’s fourth development in seven years in the Greengate area - a well-established and well-connected part of Salford that is only a few minutes walk from central Manchester’s offices, restaurants and national transport links.
The launch of Obsidian follows Salboy’s completion of Fifty5ive (an 18-storey tower with 220 one to three-bed apartments), Local Blackfriars (a gated community of 380 apartments, townhouses and penthouses) and the Black Friar pub (a 140-year old historic landmark that Salboy restored to its former glory).
Ismail continues: “We are delighted to return to Greengate - an area that connects the twin cities of Salford and Manchester and whose overdue regeneration we have been involved with for more than seven years.”
The 221,000 sq ft site on which Obsidian will be constructed sits within Salford City Council’s Chapel Wharf Framework and has been identified as a development opportunity site. Development on the site can be traced back to 1791 and the Salford Iron Works, one of the largest manufacturers of cast-iron products and stationary steam engines which powered mills around Manchester. The ironworks closed in the 1930s and were replaced by low-level housing in the 1970s and 1980s.
