Delivering social value through the legacy of Our Town Hall
Discussions about social value in the construction industry often focus on KPIs and tick-box exercises.
Yet meaningful engagement is not an add-on to a project; it is embedded in architectural practice. In particular, within the culture of learning, development and knowledge sharing in our practice that extends beyond charitable work.
At the Our Town Hall project, the restoration and refurbishment of Manchester’s Grade I listed Town Hall, social value has become an integral part of the way the project team works. From upskilling the local existing workforce and supporting apprentices through to strengthening relationships with local communities, universities and heritage craftspeople, the project demonstrates how architectural conservation can create a lasting impact far beyond the building itself.
Students from local schools takingpart in Work Experience Week (Credit: Manchester City Council)
Looking beyond the building
At Purcell, delivering social value means recognising the wider role that architecture plays in society. Every historic building carries stories, skills and traditions that deserve to be shared with the people who use, occupy and care for it.
For Manchester Town Hall, this has meant promoting the history and significance of the building to our clients, the public, the construction workforce, end users, local schools, and universities. We involve the often-diverse communities for whom the project serves, developing broad educational programmes which inform those communities of their architectural heritage.
The refurbishment offers a unique opportunity to support local employment, encourage learning and create pathways into the construction and heritage sectors. Most importantly, it allows us to help preserve traditional skills that are essential for the long-term care of historic buildings.
Investing in future generations
Through apprenticeship training programmes, such as PlanBEE, as well as work experience placements, the Our Town Hall team is helping emerging heritage professionals gain a deeper understanding of historic construction techniques, materials and conservation principles. I am a strong supporter of advocating for alternative ways of studying architecture, such as apprenticeship schemes and part-time learning. For heritage trades, practical experience is invaluable. Specialist skills such as stone masonry, joinery and specialist restoration techniques can only be developed through hands-on learning.
As ambassadors for the heritage industry, we provide an important conduit to help promote the legacy of these skills, and I believe we have a duty to ensure we engage with our heirs and pass down our skills.
This is particularly important with heritage architecture, as the appreciation and technical skill involved with working with a historic building is not something learned in university.
By creating opportunities for apprentices to work alongside experienced craftspeople, the project is helping to ensure that essential knowledge is passed from one generation to the next to care for the North West’s rich historic environment.
The Northern Soul Charette
Building partnerships with universities
During the early years of the project, while the building remained accessible, the Our Town Hall team developed strong relationships with Manchester School of Architecture (MSA), creating opportunities for students to engage directly with a live heritage project. Through MSA’s Events programme, student teams have explored a range of topics connected to the Town Hall, and neighbouring charities.
Prior to the Town Hall’s full closure, one group also hosted the annual RIBA Northern Soul Design Charette within the building, focusing on public engagement and generating ideas that could inform future project initiatives. Other teams developed detailed models of Gothic Revival architectural features, while some worked alongside the project team to model proposals for new entrances and lift interventions.
Looking ahead to the building’s reopening, there is an opportunity to expand these partnerships even further. The aspiration is to move beyond simply hosting activities and instead use heritage as a catalyst for lasting relationships between organisations, educational institutions and community partners.
Students from local schools taking part in Work Experience Week at OTH
Protecting heritage
The success of heritage conservation depends on preserving the skills needed to care for them, and we have a collective responsibility to support those who will follow us.
The legacy of the Our Town Hall project will not simply be the restoration of one of Manchester’s most important civic buildings but will also be found in the craftspeople who developed specialist skills, the students who discovered new career paths, and the partnerships that continue to strengthen the city’s heritage sector long after the project is complete.
As William Morris wrote in the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) Manifesto, we must “protect our ancient buildings and hand them down instructive and venerable to those that come after us.” The survival of our heritage primarily relies upon the survival of our heritage skills. Whether those skills lie within design, contracting or craftspersonship, we need to ensure part of our practice includes the provision for passing on a legacy of skills to the next generation.
