Consultation launched for £60 million inland surf centre coming to TraffordCity

The £60 million scheme, called Modern Surf, will be located on Peel L&P’s brownfield site off Barton Dock Road in TraffordCity and will be the first inland surfing facility to open in the North West.

Capitalising on surfing’s growing popularity world-wide, the complex will complement the already growing leisure offer in TraffordCity and seek to attract even more visitors to the area.

Early designs of the plans feature a surfing lagoon, bar and restaurant facilities and other interactive attractions for visitors and surfers such as a pump track and fitness zone, a halfpipe/boarding area and exercise areas including bouldering and balancing zones.

The complex will be powered by Wavegarden, the world leader in man-made, wave-generating technologies, which will create perfect waves for beginners, learners and professionals alike.

Share your thoughts

McKinney Group is looking for feedback prior to a full planning application being submitted to Trafford Council in February 2021. A virtual consultation has been launched and everyone interested is being asked to visit https://modernsurfconsultation.co.uk to find more information and to share their thoughts.

As well as this, two live chats will be hosted through the consultation website for people to speak in real-time to the project team, ask questions and share feedback.

The details for the live chats are:

 Thursday 4th February, 1pm-5pm 
Thursday 11th February, 1pm-5pm 

Billy McKinney, Managing Director at McKinney Group said:

“We are really excited to be bringing forward these plans in Greater Manchester, which will be a first for the North West. 

“We are pleased to be investing into Trafford and adding to the unrivalled leisure offer available in TraffordCity. From the Trafford Centre, to Chill Factore, to the recently approved Therme water leisure complex, Modern Surf will be in perfect company and we look forward to attracting yet more visitors to this thriving area. 

“We urge everyone interested in the plans to get in touch and share their views with us by visiting our virtual consultation, which can be found our website” 

Paul Shuker, Director at Lambert Smith-Hampton said: 

“We believe that these plans not only complement the existing leisure offer around TraffordCity, but will in part complete the eastern quarter of TraffordCity too. Modern Surf will bring in new visitors to the city region and regenerate one of the last remaining brownfield sites in TraffordCity. 

“The concept to bring surfing to Greater Manchester was considered during the dark days of Lockdown 1, and it is with great excitement that we could have a world leading surf facility in the city region that will become part of a wider ‘Wavegarden’ network across the planet. 

“This will put Greater Manchester on the surfing circuit for local, national and international competitions. We would therefore urge people to get involved in the consultation to provide their feedback so we can get people on the waves by 2023.” 

James Whittaker, Executive Development Director at Peel L&P also commented: 

“We’re passionate about investing and developing TraffordCity for the local community and beyond to enjoy, so we’re pleased to be working in partnership with McKinney Group on the plans for Modern Surf. The facility will bring something unique to the already strong leisure offering in TraffordCity and, alongside Therme Manchester, Modern Surf will complement all the surrounding businesses whilst bringing immense economic and social benefits to the area creating at least 100 jobs once operational.”