Buy it once, buy it well
The culture shift that's accelerated the drive for repurposing.
WHEN THE GIANT MONOLITH of Bankside Power Station ceased operations in 1981, the idea that it would one day become Tate Modern and house one of the world’s most extensive collections of contemporary art may have seemed improbable to passing Londoners. Amid the industrial strife of the previous decade, the thought of Battersea Power Station, decommissioned in 1975, opening in 2022 as an upscale shopping and leisure destination probably required an even greater suspension of disbelief.
Yet thanks to a myriad of real estate professionals, proposals and investment cases, these high-profile landmarks did eventually find a new purpose and have become a valuable part of the offering that gives our capital its unique character and sense of place.
High-profile landmarks are finding a new purpose and have become a valuable part of the offering that gives our capital its unique character and sense of place. They are part of the story of post-industrial age Britain gradually transforming itself, moving away from heavy industry and manufacturing and towards a knowledge and service-based economy. The question of what to do with the buildings bequeathed to us by previous generations is a widespread and on-going challenge. Dereliction is always a problem, negatively impacting the look and feel of any area, but an existing building can also be an opportunity to rethink and revitalise.
These issues play out around the country, with developers, planners, local authority regeneration teams and many others pondering the future of redundant mills, warehouses, offices and department stores of the near and far past.
The once glacial pace of change has been accelerated by the advance of digital into all aspects of our lives, not least in the way online shopping has hastened the decline of the High Street. The imperative to find lower carbon ways of living and working is also reshaping the dynamic. Somewhere in the mix, we also have the overnight, revolutionary changes to working practices brought about by the Covid pandemic. These factors have helped serve up a new era where the changing expectations for spaces to work, learn, and play are constantly debated.
To this end, Morgan Sindall Construction gathered a group of industry leaders in Manchester, a city with a significant industrial history and architecture, to explore the agenda and the Intelligent Solutions around repurposing older buildings.
The group met at NOMA, a site which blends old and new on land that was once part of the Co-Op estate in Manchester and is now being redeveloped by MEPC. This reimagined district contains state-of-the-art low carbon workspaces, including 4 Angel Square, which features some 200,000 sq ft office space within an 11-storey, BREEAM Outstanding building. It is set to complete in the summer of 2023. Other new innovative, operationally low carbon offices will follow at NOMA to sit alongside existing heritage buildings and leisure space such as New Century Hall, which has been restored by MEPC as a live music venue and food hall.
Dan Hyde I Development Director, NOMA/MEPC (co-host), Richard Spackman I Development Director, Capital & Centric, Nicholas Birchall I Architect, Hawkins Brown, Helen Cutts I Head of Sustainability, University of Central Lancashire, Alistair Lambert I Principal Mechanical Engineer, WSP, Richard Dowdall I Associate Director, Civic Engineers, Maja Nesdale I Partner, Arcadis IBI, Abbie Romano I Manufacturing Technology Centre, Liverpool, Simon Arnott I Managing Director (North West), Morgan Sindall Construction, Richard Potts I Area Director, Morgan Sindall Construction, Jason Ward I Framework Manager, Morgan Sindall Construction, Discussion chaired by Chris Hulme, Director, Influential.
