Funding deal agreed to repurpose one of Manchester’s oldest surviving Victorian mills
Social impact developers Capital&Centric have agreed a £37 million deal with Paragon Bank to finance the restoration of Talbot Mill, as they continue to repurpose it into 190 new distinctive homes for rent.
The £55 million plans to reimagine the historic mill and create a new build neighbouring 10-storey apartment block began in May 2024. When it completes it will celebrate the mill’s past, with loads of original features retained but with over half the development newly built, there will be something for everyone.
Built in 1855, the imposing red-brick mill on Castlefield’s Ellesmere Street was the product of Manchester’s textile boom. Its canal side location will now offer residents a lush hidden garden, with green spaces to meet and hang out.
Tom Wilmot, joint managing director at Capital&Centric, said:
“We love to restore and repurpose historic buildings but as one of Manchester’s oldest mills, Talbot Mill is something a bit different, and we’re buzzing to be bringing it back to its former glory.
“It had a huge role to play in the industrial revolution in the city and now it gets to be part of the city’s future. We’re retaining as many features as we can, to keep the history of the mill alive and so that our residents can enjoy becoming custodians of the past whilst enjoying all the trappings of modern-day living.”
Simon Dekker, senior relationship director at Paragon led on the deal, said:
"Paragon launched its Build-to-Rent loan programme in the specialist development space early last year.
"We're really pleased to provide finance for Capital&Centric at Talbot Mill, they’re pioneering in the regeneration space and it’s a scheme that will deliver their trademark cool homes, with lush gardens and the stunning architecture they’ve become known for. We're really looking forward to seeing the finished development and working with the Capital&Centric team again in the future.”
One of the city’s last massive mills to be restored, it was Talbot that spearheaded the rapid transformation of the Cornbrook area from undeveloped land to a powerful industrial hub in the late 19th century. It went on to have a colourful history, dominating the local cotton industry in the early 1900s. It was even used as a mushroom farm in the 1980s and more recently the set of a period drama and a massive art exhibition.
Talbot Mill is another example of Capital&Centric’s restoration of Manchester’s iconic listed buildings, as they continue a lengthy run of projects mixing the old and the new. It includes Crusader Mill, Ducie Street Warehouse and Neptune Mill in Piccadilly East, and Minshull Warehouse and Minto&Turner at the Kampus garden neighbourhood near Canal Street.
Capital&Centric are developing Talbot Mill as an investment, which they will retain for rent, something they have already done successfully on a number of sites creating and investing in communities for people of all ages. Talbot Mill is one of eight live construction sites for the developers who invest £3million a week in regeneration and are continuing their expansion into new towns and cities across the UK, like Buxton, Wolverhampton, Gateshead, Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent and Cambridge.