The cranes of Salford ...... no. 12

A return of the series …………. on the cranes of Salford.

It has been some years since Andy Robertson, started his project on The cranes of Salford, and I am pleased he has returned to recording the changing Salford landscape.

Location; Salford Quays



Picture; The cranes of Salford, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The cranes of Salford …………… 2020

A return of the series …………. on the cranes of Salford.

It has been some years since Andy Robertson, started his project on The cranes of Salford, and I am pleased he has returned to recording the changing Salford landscape.

Location; Salford Quays


Picture; The cranes of Salford, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The cranes of Salford ……….. no. 10 ………… looking in from Castlefield

Somewhere I have a similar photograph taken from the reconstructed wall of the Roman fort at Castlefield looking into Salford.

Mine will date from the late 1990s and I wish I could find it because it would make a nice contrast to Andy’s which was taken last week.

The difference will be the cranes in the distance, which like their counterparts in Manchester point to the wholesale redevelopment of the twin cities.

I remain uneasy at this transformation, not because I am against progress, but more the nature, size and ultimate use of these giant new blocks.

They dwarf the city, squeezing out the traditional historic landscapes, and appear to abandon any concept of social housing provision.

And when the bubble bursts, and the properties can no longer attract people to live in them, what then?

Location; Castlefield

Picture; looking into Salford, 2019, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The cranes of Salford ........ number 3 .... Chapel Street

Now you do have to look for the crane but it is there and with open spaces still to be filled on Chapel Street I think it will not be too long before more of them will make their appearance on this stretch of road.

That said I like Cathy Robertson’s picture which neatly captures that old Salford that many will remember with both the present and the future.

But some eagle eyed observers will no doubt point out that the crane actually looks to be in Manchester.

Ah well.

Location; Salford





Pictures; Chapel, 2017, from the collection of Cathy Robertson

The Cranes of Salford ...... number 5 ....... Harbour City ... six months ago

Now I admire anyone who ventures out in the rain in autumn with a camera, and especially Andy Robertson who as ever was out recording the changing skyline of the Twin Cities.

In this case it was Harbour City down at the Quays in the rain.

Not for him a warm sunny day with blue skies smiling so bright, blue birds singing their song while day was hurrying by, instead it was grey clouds, persistent rain with the promise of travelling home soaked to the skin.*

So here are two Andy took from Salford in the rain, down at Harbour City watching as the cranes moved and the buildings grew.

Location; Salford

Pictures; Harbour City, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Robertson







*Apologies to Irving Berlin and his song Blue Skies.

The cranes of Salford ........ number 2 .... Collier Street a year ago

Now I am fully prepared to hear that many who call Salford their home will shake their heads with sad resignation about the new series “The cranes of Salford”.

And those cranes are pretty much everywhere helping build  new blocks of flats and offices to multi story car parks.

They rise from open spaces which had once been factories, and warehouses along with those grand Edwardian shops and rows of terraced houses.

And in  the midst of all this change Andy Robertson was on hand to record it and in the case of Collier Street captured the old and the new.

I will leave the debate on the worth of what was lost with the excitement of what is now going up to others, and just say before we get nostalgic for all those 19th century buildings, it is as well to remember that both the Victorians and Edwardians showed scant regard for the fine old properties which they swept away.

Location; Salford

Pictures; Collier Street, 2017, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The Cranes of Salford ...... number 7 ....... Media City

From the series, the Cranes of Salford ...... number 6 ....... Media City

Nothing more to say.


Location; Salford






Pictures; Media City, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Robertson

The Cranes of Salford ...... number 6 ....... Media City

From the series the cranes of Salford

Nothing more to say.

Location; Salford

Pictures; Media City, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Robertson

The cranes of Salford no.8 ........... in the shadow of another development

Location; Salford

Pictures; Salford Cranes, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

“Crane crazy” .............. a Salford skyline

Now there is that oft quoted observation, that if you count the number of cranes in the sky, that is a pretty good measure of the prosperity of a city.

Of course there will be those in Salford and for that matter in Manchester who might deplore all the new development.

Certainly you can’t move far without seeing a building site, hence Andy’s comment “Crane crazy”, but it does mean that the place is busy and that people want to settle here even if some of what is going up is less than attractive.

The historian in me wonders just want an observer in 1830 might have thought of the whole sale development of great chunks of Salford and over the river into that “other place”.

Some I expect would shudder and wish for the green fields, while others might nod with approval at how the twin cities were at the cutting age of business an innovation.

Just leaving those who had to live in the cheaply produced cottages and back to back properties, to mutter something else.

Location; Salford

Pictures; Salford Cranes, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

The cranes of Salford ........ number 1 .... Adelphi Street

Now I have called the series “The cranes of Salford” and it will feature, record and celebrate the new developments in Salford.

And yes I know “it all looked better before the old Victorian and Edwardian buildings were swept away” but many were no longer fit for purpose, having lost their original use or just got very old and then neglected.

I never knew that old Salford so I am not perhaps the best person to pass comment.

Added to which I freely admit much that is going up is pretty run of the mill, and could have been designed by Year 4 while some are just ugly and too big.

Moreover some that are rising from the streets have no originality and could be buildings from Spinningfields, Docklands, or that brash new development in Milan.

All that as maybe Salford, is changing and Andy Robertson was on hand to record it and in the case of Adelphi Street has kindly offered up an old picture for everyone to compare and contrast.

I say old but it dates only from November 2014.

And that  just leaves me to finish with his last from the shoot which I think is taken from the same spot as the 2014 picture.

The keen observers will instantly want to comment that in three years the cars have moved from off the site to beside it ........ such is progress.

Location; Salford




Pictures; Adelphi Street, 2014 & 2017, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The cranes of Salford ........ number 4 .... Midlewood Street

Now down at Middlewood Locks I reckon it won’t be long before the cranes have gone.

So Andy Robertson was there to record the onward march of this development

Location; Salford




Pictures; Middlewood Street from Nagreave Street that was, 2017, from the collection of Andyy Robertson