Tom Bloxham, 56, is the chairman and co-founder of award-winning regeneration company and place maker Urban Splash.
First arriving in Manchester as a student in the 1980s, Hampshire-born Bloxham went on to sell records and posters, and set up a pub business, nightclub and radio station before founding Urban Splash in 1993 with Jonathan Falkingham.
Their passion for bringing back to life the disused industrial buildings of Manchester and across northern cities is now legendary, and the firm has created more than 5,000 homes and two million square feet of workspace.
It’s now playing its part in solving the housing crisis by creating modular homes.
Bloxham, who received an MBE in 1999, is chairman of Manchester International Festival and trustee of the Manchester United Foundation and The Bloxham Charitable Trust. He's a former Chancellor of the University of Manchester.
When and where did you buy your first home?
The first place I owned was a three-bedroom house at Merchants Quay, in Salford Quays, in Greater Manchester. The site was home to Manchester Docks until the early 1980s.
I bought the house in 1986 when I was just 23 years old.
What was the area like then?
Regeneration of the docklands didn’t begin until 1985, and Merchants Quay was one of the area’s earliest residential developments.
When I first moved in, there were only about 30 houses in Salford Quays – and not a lot else. There were no offices, the Lowry theatre hadn’t been built. There was just a pub called Pier 6, the Copthorne Hotel and a cinema.
What attracted you to the house?
It was a fairly basic, new-build terraced house. But the area it was in excited me as I wanted to be at the vanguard, a pioneer of somewhere new. Even now, many of my best friends are neighbours from my Salford Quays days.
The first house Tom Bloxham bought
And how much did your first home cost?
I paid £37,000.
How many potential homes did you view before putting in an offer?
Before I bought that house I did look around at other options – big Victorian suburban terraces, for example – but I opted for this one as I believed that something exciting was going to happen with Salford.
Did you have to make any compromises or changes from your on-paper wish list?
I would have preferred a bigger, older, better designed house, but the appeal of the water, and of being a pioneer, overcame all that.
Did you buy on your own or with someone else?
I bought the house with my wife-to-be, a year before we got married.
How did you save for your deposit?
I had a successful poster publishing business in Manchester, so I was able to save from that.
Did the buying process go smoothly?
Yes, it all went very smoothly.
Can you describe how you felt being a homeowner for the first time?
Proud. I knew we were onto something special with Salford Quays.
Tom Bloxhan's collection of vintage Salford Quays posters
How did you furnish your home?
I bought second-hand art deco furniture from auctions and scrap shops.
Did you make any structural changes to the home?
I liked the house so much that when next door came up for sale a few years later, I bought that as well.
By this time we had two kids, and we wanted a bigger house, so we resolved it by knocking the two together.
We eventually split them up again and sold them as two properties, about eight years later, I think for about £100,000 each.
What’s the home improvement that gives you the most pleasure?
I’m keen on anything which embraces the original features of a property; anything that can be repurposed or restored is always appealing.
What advice would you give to first-time buyers today, or your younger self buying for the first time?
I think in many ways I am the lucky generation. I had a free education, full employment and owned my own home at an early age.
But there are parallels that can be drawn by young buyers today. Salford Quays back then had the potential of regeneration areas of today – for example, Wirral Waters in Merseyside, which is why we are investing in it.
It’s just like Salford Quays was 30 years ago. It’s about seeing the potential of a place.
The view from Merchant Quays today
Where did you move to afterwards, and where do you live now?
We went on to live in various other parts of Manchester, but finally settled in Manchester city centre, in a lovely loft apartment – built by Urban Splash.
Do you still own a home in the South of France?
Yes. It’s a rare example of a modern French listed property: a concrete 'bubble house' begun by Hungarian architect Antti Lovag in 1969, and finally completed by us 40 years later.
What does the concept of home mean to you?
There really is 'no place like home'. Owning your own home is a huge privilege, and all the more so if you love its design and feel it says something about you.
Live well by design and choose your own home carefully.
All about... Salford Quays
About three and a half miles west of Manchester city centre, Salford Quays forms part of Salford, which is itself within the metropolitan borough of the City of Salford, in Greater Manchester.
Near the 36-mile long Manchester Ship Canal, an inland waterway that links Manchester to the Irish Sea, Salford Quays was one of the UK’s first major urban regeneration projects, following the closure of the dockyards there in the early 1980s. It was transformed from a disused industrial site into a gleaming business, residential and cultural centre.
The Quays are now home to MediaCityUK, The Lowry and Mersey Ferries, and have become a one-stop destination for entertainment, restaurants and shopping.
Gleaming new high-rises and fast emerging neighbourhoods make Salford Quays a magnet for young professionals looking for swanky, contemporary apartments.
You can reach the area by Metrolink tram, leaving from Manchester’s national railway stations, Piccadilly and Victoria. Alternatively, catch a bus from Salford Crescent station.