Wienerberger Architects Bus Tour: Manchester & Salford

Architects’ Bus Tour:

Manchester & Salford May 2013

Photography: Bernadette Delaney

Architects’ Bus Tour: Stowell Memorial Church Steeple, Salford Riverside and The Lowry Hotel, Salford The NV Buildings, Salford Quays Media City, Salford Quays Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays Imperial War Museum (IWM), Trafford The Liverpool Warehouses, Trafford Park Skyhook, Trafford Park Abito, Salford Quay Daily Express Building, Manchester Victoria Station, Manchester Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester

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Manchester & Salford

Wienerberger, the leading provider of wall, roof and landscaping innovations, hosted an architectural bus tour in Manchester and Salford, which saw 22 architects climb aboard a vintage double decker bus and visit the city’s key architectural landmarks.

The tour was held in conjunction with its sponsorship of the 2013 MSA Design Awards. Architectural commentator and Manchester expert Phil Griffin hosted the tour, which incorporated many of the city’s heritage and modern landmarks.

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Stowell Memorial Church Steeple, Salford The steeple of the church by the M602 roundabout remains a landmark in Salford, though the church was demolished in 1990.

Today it is seen by drivers on their way to or from the M602. The landmark was saved in memory of Canon Hugh Stowell. Born 1799, a very important figure in the Salford church in Victorian times. The steeple is now a telephone mast.

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Riverside and The Lowry Hotel, Salford Riverside (far left) is an office complex between New Bailey Street and the Trinity Bridge and the River Irwell and Browncross Street in Salford. It was designed by the architectural practice of Leach Rhodes Walker and built in 1967. A true architectural gem from the 1960’s.

The Lowry Hotel (centre of image) a luxury five star hotel designed by Consarc Design Architects. The £27 million building was part of the Chapel Wharf Area master plan, which aimed to regenerate Salford’s disused industrial landscape.

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The NV Buildings, Salford Quays Designed by Broadway Maylan and completed in 2005. The development consists of three 18-storey residential towers, each 180 feet (55 m) in height.

Costing ÂŁ36 million, the towers stand in a row overlooking Huron Basin.

Their curved shape were designed to represent boat sails.

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Media City, Salford Quays This was designed to provide a purposebuilt home for creative and digital businesses and the new home to the BBC. The first phase, spread over 36 acres, was completed in 2011 but there is the potential to use up to 200 acres of land over the next decade.

It includes: 70,000 square feet of offices (including space for the BBC, ITV and University of Salford), 250,000 square feet of high definition studios (including the largest high definition studio in Europe and one dedicated to the BBC Philharmonic) a public park and events space - twice the size of Trafalgar Square!

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Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays An architectural competition was held to appoint “a top European architect� to carry out the commission of the Lowry Theatre. Stirling and Wilford were appointed as the master planner for the project. At night, the building really comes alive as the Tower and the canopy at the front are clad in perforated steel, and when these are illuminated from inside, the whole building glows.

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Imperial War Museum (IWM), Trafford Nestled on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Trafford, a spectacular award-winning building designed by the internationally renowned architect, Daniel Libeskind.

An architectural competition for the new museum was held in 1997 and Berlin based architect Daniel Libeskind produced the winning design.

Libeskind’s family had suffered in the Second World War and relatives died in the Holocaust. The museum is made up of shards which Libeskind said represented the globe shattered by conflict of war.

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The Liverpool Warehouses, Trafford Park Two large warehouses built in 1925 and 1932 for the Liverpool Warehousing Company. The company operated from 70 Pall Mall in Liverpool and for many years they were the largest firm of warehouse keepers in the UK with cotton as their predominant commodity.

It is the end of the warehouse though that gets the most attention because it is home to a huge mural by the Littleborough artist Walter Kershaw.

Kershaw’s first mural on this building was completed in 1982 and unveiled by Dennis Law. It was replaced by an updated version in 1993.

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Skyhook, Trafford Park In front of the former Trafford Park Telephone Exchange Building, at the junction of Trafford Park Road and Trafford Road, stands a giant hook on the end of a chain.

Entitled “Skyhook� this sculpture was unveiled in 1995 as part of the regeneration of the Trafford Park Industrial Estate.

It was commissioned from Brian Fell who actually produced two 17-metres high hooks and chains. The second one is located on the other side of the old Telephone Exchange near Wharf End.

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Abito, Salford Quay Positioned to take advantage of the views, the apartments have been pushed to the perimeter of the building creating a protected courtyard within. Designed by Building Design Partnership (BDP), the focus being to design a building from the inside out.

Large-scale industrial design aesthetic informs much of Abito’s structure and appearance ‘clipped on’ steel balconies serve as an extension to each of the studio apartments.

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Daily Express Building, Manchester Located on Great Ancoats Street, this Grade II listed building was designed by Sir Owen Williams and was completed in 1939 to house one of the three Daily Express offices. Similar buildings can be found in London and Glasgow. The building is often thought to be much younger than it is due to its futuristic faรงade and appearance.

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Victoria Station, Manchester Much of the Victoria Station that we see today was built on Walker’s Croft, home to a cemetery. The 160 yard long facade was built in 1909 by William Dawes. Along the length of the facade a wrought iron and glass canopy offers shelter to passengers.

The white panels of the canopy contain the names of destinations served by the railway. A huge ceramic map of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway system and below it a bronze war memorial unveiled in 1922. Inside the station is a glass domed restaurant, originally for first class passengers. It has a tiled surface and gold mosaic lettering.

Work has started on a £44m restoration of Manchester’s Victoria Station. The project includes restoration of the station’s period features, including the glazed canopy at the front of the building. Work has begun dismantling the old roof structure to make way for a huge £16m ETFE roofing canopy similar to that used at the Eden Project. This will be fitted across the station concourse at the end of the year.

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Image: Northern Design Awards.com

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Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester The school was founded in 1969, but its main building dates back to the fifteenth century. The architecture on the latest building is bold horizontal ridges and rounded forms that cantilever out over the gorge and rise to a high bluff at the concert hall end. Built in a thin, long claycoloured brick, flush-pointed and raked to emphasise its geological character. n The project was winner of the ‘MSA Wienerberger Building of the Year Award’ - 2013.

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