Regeneration photography in Old Trafford,Manchester.
I have recently been undertaking an architectural photography commission for Trafford Housing Trust , updating their stock image bank for use in future publications.
The first part of the commission was to photograph the regenerated tower blocks on the Tamworth Estate and two high-rise towers on the Hullard Estate in Old Trafford . The five towers , were looking a little tired and run down. Built in the 1960’s as part of the slum clearances they desperately needed a face lift. PRP Architects, Trafford Housing Trust and their contractors Seddon have certainly made vast improvements to the blocks .They look stunning against a blue sky. PRP architects and Trafford Housing Trust won an Architects Journal retrofit award for their work on the estates.
As usual, with this sort of architectural commission, getting good light is half the battle. I use an app called SunCalc to work out the sun’s direction so that each image is shot at the best time of day.
A good selection of shots was requested from Trafford Housing Trust, from photographs of individual blocks to groups of towers and then some detailed and angled shots. I was lucky enough to have access to the roofs of the blocks to get some images looking down. Unfortunately the external landscaping is not yet finished so I had to get creative with the angles to avoid any muddy area. I look forward to going back when It’s all completed.
You can view other examples of my architectural photography here or examples of my social housing work here.
