Property developer Urban Splash has launched an architectural competition for 26 canal-side homes at the New Islington regeneration site in Manchester, England.

Each of the houses will be designed by a different competition winner, all of whom will also be given the chance to buy the plot of land and build the house for themselves.

The competition site is the multi-coloured stripe in the plan of New Islington above.

The aim of the competition, called Tutti Frutti, is to recreate the architectural diversity of the Borneo Sporenburg development in Amsterdam, planned by West 8 architects (above).

To enter the competition - which opens on Friday 8 June - visit the New Islington website.

Full details follow:

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TUTTI FRUTTI BUILD YOUR OWN HOME SWEET HOME

Self builders, architects and budding property developers are being given a really rare opportunity to design and build their own homes to create a remarkable new street as award winning property developer Urban Splash launches Tutti Frutti at Grand Designs Live London (8-10 June, ExCeL).

Tutti Frutti is a competition to offer twenty-six canal side building plots at New Islington, Manchester’s Millennium Community, one of the most ambitious and exciting major regeneration projects in Europe.

To enter competitors must demonstrate their ability to finance the purchase of the plot and build costs, and produce a scale model of their house. Entrants have until 17 August 07 to provide their financial submission and assuming this is approved they have until 7 September 07 to submit their model.

The “winners" will “win" the right have the right to purchase the plot of land and build their home on it. Each plot will be 15 metres in length with widths S, M and L ranging from 4 metres to 5 metres. The plot prices will start from approximately £160,000.

Out of the “winners", one house will be selected as the overall winner and Urban Splash will give them the plot for free!

“We love the idea of Tutti Frutti," said Nick Johnson, deputy chief executive, Urban Splash. “We know there’s tons of people itching to design and build their own homes but finding the right plot can be the most frustrating part of the process. We’ve got lots of plots up for grabs at Tutti Frutti and as the name suggests we’re looking for a real mix of styles, from the flamboyant to the quietly understated, anything really as long as it is fantastic."

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Urban Splash, the award winning property developer responsible for delivering New Islington with its partners, national regeneration agency English Partnerships, New East Manchester and Manchester Methodist Housing Association, is working with Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on Tutti Frutti to ensure all the entries are dealt with anonymously and a panel of high profiles judges which will include architect Will Alsop and TV presenter Griff Rhys Jones, will choose the twenty six winners from the entries received.

“What an exciting opportunity Tutti Frutti is," said Will Alsop. “New Islington is an incredibly special place and I am really looking forward to seeing the entries, we’ve got a wealth of ambitious and talented architects and people wanting to work with them, what better way than designing and building a house on the UK’s most interesting street in the UK’s most outstanding new place, New Islington."

Urban Splash will help with the planning process and also assist with the co-ordination of the building site, as all the new houses will be built at the same time.

Urban Splash got the idea for Tutti Frutti after the company visited Amsterdam on its Christmas party in 2005. A firm called West 8 had created Borneo Sporenburg, a series of one off designed homes along a canal, Urban Splash thought it was such a fantastic idea they decided to have a go themselves.

“We were being shown round Borneo Sporenburg, by West 8 when we fell in love with this wonderful terrace where each house is totally different," said Nick Johnson. “We’ve given it our own very special twist. We’ve upped the ante; we’ve added a little spice by fixing the price of the development plots and running a design competition to select the fruitiest to make this the best street in the whole wide world."

To enter the competition visit www.newislington.co.uk/tuttifrutti from Friday 8 June 2007 or visit the stand (B105) during Grand Designs Live London (ExCeL 8-10 June) to meet the team behind the competition and to find out more about it.

New Islington, Manchester’s Millennium Community, is one of English Partnerships’ seven Millennium Communities - New Islington is a partnership between English Partnerships, Urban Splash and New East Manchester Ltd together with appointed social landlord, Manchester Methodist Housing Association. The 30 acre site, just east of Manchester city centre is being radically transformed to a strategic and ambitious vision created by Will Alsop. A new canal and water park, 1700 new homes, office space, a school, a health clinic, shops, bars and restaurants are planned to be created, using the world’s best architecture.