Manchester Town Hall
Returning civic pride to a landmark building
Purcell are lead architects for the refurbishment of the Grade I-listed Manchester Town Hall.
The careful repairs and interventions will bring the Alfred Waterhouse building up to modern environmental, access and safety standards while transforming its visitor experience to make a community hub for all.
Our Town Hall
Our team are restoring the entire building, including the Great Hall and its Ford Madox Brown murals, while undertaking extensive external repairs. The completed project will ensure the longevity of the building and ensure accessibility throughout for everyone, whilst future-proofing this landmark civic building for generations to come.
Manchester Town Hall was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1877 and is a Victorian, neo-Gothic building which sits in the heart of Manchester. The Our Town Hall project will transform and restore the Manchester landmark and involves the repair of internal and external deficits, whilst simultaneously renewing building services and improving accessibility and visitor experience.
This includes replacing the entire wiring and plumbing throughout the building and adding modern facilities, including communication links, which will make the building far more functional, sustainable and easier to maintain.
Design and Conservation Philosophy
Throughout the project, our team have carried out extensive research into the building which has led to a detailed understanding of its history, building technology and heritage significance. A detailed survey has been undertaken both internally and externally to determine the necessary repairs.
Both desktop and visual surveys have been used to develop proposals for the electrics, ICT, lighting, heating, ventilation, and acoustics, which respect the historic function of the building whilst increasing efficiency and lowering the carbon footprint. This has enabled our project team to effectively understand the capacity for change and informed our design solutions and conservation philosophy.
– Bernard Priest, Deputy Leader, Manchester City Council
Visitor Experience
The visitor experience will be transformed by providing a dedicated exhibition space showcasing the Manchester Town Hall collection, exploring the history of the building and its links to the city. This area will also accommodate guided tours for visitors to understand both the building’s heritage and Manchester’s history. In preparation for this, the collection has been fully catalogued prior to storage and will be conserved before being re-displayed to the public.
Our aim is to bring the town hall back to the cultural heart of Manchester as a flagship destination. We are enjoying working closely with Manchester City Council and our project partners. – Mark Goldspink, CEO, Purcell
Details
- Client Manchester City Council
- Team Our Town Hall team
- Location Manchester
- Country United Kingdom
- Listing Status Grade I
- Photography Manchester City Council
