Morgan Sindall named preferred partner for £67.86m Salford Business School

Morgan Sindall Construction has been selected as preferred partner to build the £67.86m Salford Business School for the University of Salford, its fourth project on the university's campus, the contractor announced on 29 October.

The scheme will demolish Crescent House at 43-44 The Crescent and replace it with a purpose-built 7,385m² (about 79,500 sq ft) home for the business school, with new public realm and landscaping around it, Morgan Sindall said.

The contractor will now work with the design team through a pre-construction period running to March 2027. If planning consent is secured, work is expected to start on site in April 2027, with completion scheduled for spring 2029.

Steven Gregory, North West area director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: "Salford is changing fast, and the University is at the heart of that change."

The building

The building is designed by BDP, which the University names as Building Design Partnership, and will provide flexible teaching and research space, according to Morgan Sindall. The school's subjects include business management, HR, supply chain and logistics, digital business, law, marketing, economics, and accounting and finance.

The University launched a public consultation on the plans on 16 September 2026, describing the scheme as its most significant investment to date in its campus estate. A consultation event was held on Wednesday 23 September, 3-7pm, at the University's Maxwell building.

At that stage the University gave the size as about 7,400m², said the proposal had not yet completed full sign-off, and said the planning application would be submitted later in 2026. Morgan Sindall's announcement says the application has now been submitted.

Professor Katy Mason, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy at the University of Salford, said: "This is a significant milestone for both Salford Business School and the wider University."

Morgan Sindall's track record at Salford

The business school follows three earlier Morgan Sindall jobs for the University. The contractor handed over the £65m Science, Engineering and Environment (SEE) Building, a four-storey, 15,550m² facility procured through the North West Construction Hub framework, which includes a wind tunnel relocated from the Salford Innovation Research Centre.

It also built a £16m robotics centre, which Morgan Sindall calls the North of England Robotics Innovation Centre (NERIC) and the University's estates page calls the Northern Engineering and Robotics Innovation Centre. The University says the centre opened in 2022.

Project	Value
Salford Business School	£67.86m
SEE Building	£65m
Robotics innovation centre	£16m

Morgan Sindall is currently building the University's 1,300m² acoustics research, testing and teaching facility on a former industrial site on Lissadel Street, replacing the existing facility in the Newton Building on the Peel Park Campus. It was appointed via the North West Construction Hub High Value Construction Framework Lot 1.

When the contractor announced that job in January 2025 it expected completion in spring 2027, and the University said in April 2025 that work would take about 18 months from a summer 2025 start. Morgan Sindall's latest release gives a completion date of mid-2027.

Crescent Salford

The business school sits within the £2.5bn, 240-acre Crescent Salford masterplan, which is being delivered by the English Cities Fund (ECF), Salford City Council and the University of Salford. ECF describes itself as a long-term strategic joint venture between Muse, Homes England and Legal & General.

Salford City Council and the University appointed ECF as developer partner for the Crescent, and the council approved the Crescent Development Framework in January 2021. The council describes the masterplan as one of the largest development opportunities in the country.

The University says the wider masterplan could help deliver up to 7,000 full-time jobs and an estimated £350m of annual gross value added by 2040. The business school forms part of its Campus Connectivity Plan, which it describes as the major redevelopment of its research, teaching and public spaces.

Charlie Alcroft, development manager at ECF, said the business school was the next step for Crescent Salford, following planning approval for the Faraday building and progress on the acoustics laboratory.

Plans to refurbish the Faraday building have been approved, Morgan Sindall said. The building will become 3,500m² of workspace for the University's professional services teams.

The business school's pre-construction period runs until March 2027, with completion of the new building scheduled for spring 2029.