Big, bold and brave
This industrial scale retrofit will see the transformation of Harmsworth Quays in Canada Wharf into a mixed-use destination called The Printworks. The proposed design celebrates many of the building’s original features, including the large press halls, the spine of the building, and the central void which will act as an atrium.
“We are moving away from the perception that second hand is second best,” said Nicholas Birchall. “In an area that is changing fast, such as around Canada Wharf we have an element that grounds it. Right off the bat, you have that identity, that sense of place. People can relate to as a touchstone.”
The bigger the project, the greater the opportunity to be creative, he felt. “Working in an area that’s already part of that wider development gives you a certain context and a set of constraints. But you also have the opportunity to work with what’s there already and to do so creatively and with volumes that you might not have naturally come across. You can also incorporate pieces that can be set interestingly and in complimentary ways against each other.”
Pictured: Harmsworth Quays
The developer Capital & Centric has fearlessly redeveloped all manner of former mills and industrial buildings into residential schemes, offices, and destinations. These include the former Littlewoods Pools counting hall on Edge Lane in Liverpool. Built in 1938, the site was requisitioned by the government during the Second World War to house the postal censorship department and, later, for the manufacture of Halifax bombers. After returning to Littlewoods' ownership, the site was eventually closed in 1994. It was subsequently acquired by Capital & Centric which intends to convert the hall into a film studio, which will be tenanted by Twickenham Studios and Liverpool John Moores University.
In July 2020, the developers secured an £11 million grant from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for the creation of two temporary studios on the land adjoining the Littlewoods Building. Known as The Depot, these studios were built by Morgan Sindall Construction and opened in October 2021.
Richard Spackman, development director at Capital & Centric, noted that in some circumstances, the older the building, the greater the heritage and therefore the easier it is to repurpose. Dan Hyde had commented that he felt that most cities had a significant stock of office buildings that fell into a grey area of very difficult to retain. The offices may have qualities but require too much investment to bring them back to life from an appraisal point of view.
"Some buildings, unfortunately, just don’t lend themselves to repurposing, said Richard Spackman and there’s lots of different constraints. It might be that the minimum standards for dimensions are too much of a challenge - the building may not be wide enough, for example, and we can’t achieve the efficiencies we’d need.”
Richard felt that choices must be made and not everything can be saved. “It’s about being creative as you can and assessing each scheme individually,” he said. “You might have to be pragmatic enough to say, it will be better environmentally to build something new, that’s going to be super-efficient. And focus on repurposing schemes that really deliver something exciting. Sometimes it’s better to accept that we have got to channel the effort and resources on saving really important heritage assets.”
Futureproofing was especially challenging. “I don’t believe for a second that anybody who worked in the Littlewoods Building when they were sifting through all the Pools coupons ever thought that in 40 years’ time it would become a film studio. Market trends are a massive driver,” he said.
Reflecting on the unpredictability and interconnectivity of events, Richard Spackman cited the boost the UK film production industry has received from Netflix flourishing and commissioning its own work. “It’s been great [for the UK film and television industry] and has meant we would have a client who could use the facility. But having the right operator in the right area is never guaranteed. What else could we have used the Littlewoods Building for? Does it work as a residential scheme or something else? Possibly not.
Capital & Centric is developing Weir Mill, transforming a former industrial site into a mixed-use destination in the centre of Stockport – a busy town with a high percentage of buildings dating from the Industrial Revolution. “It’s a really interesting place because [the council] has put a lot of time, investment and effort into exactly this subject, repurposing,”
Pictured: Weir Mill in Stockport
As a local authority, the best thing to do is partner with businesses that can use their skillset to help them maximise the opportunities, rather than embarking on these challenges alone. It really helps to work collaboratively with the private sector," said Richard.
If a building can be repurposed once, it can be repurposed again. Alistair Lambert of WSP spoke of his firm being part of the project team that has supported proposals to update the Great Northern Warehouse on Manchester’s Deansgate – one of the best-known retail streets in the city.
Pictured: The Great Northern Warehouse, read more about it's history
A former railway goods warehouse, the Great Northern Warehouse once held a total of 150 goods wagons across two of its levels, with capacity for a further 500 in its sidings. Over 800 people worked at the site. Granted Grade II* status in 1974, the building was repurposed into a leisure complex that opened in 1999. The site is now set to be converted again into offices and with 746 homes built nearby, under proposals by Trilogy Real Estate and Hong Kong-based Peterson Group.
“There have been various iterations of the scheme,” explained Alistair Lambert. “Part of that is about market trends and how it stacks up as a mixed-use proposition.”
WSP has also worked on another element of the city’s transport heritage, the site of a disused freight train yard and station at Mayfield, next door to Manchester’s Piccadilly Station.
The Mayfield Partnership is a public private joint venture between Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester, London and Continental Railways, and the regeneration specialist Landsec U+I. The vision for the Mayfield site will create another new neighbourhood for the city. The scheme has already brought forward the 6.5 acre Mayfield Park, the first new public park in the city centre in 100 years. It opened in September 2022. Over a period of 18 months, the mostly derelict park site was transformed into an attractive, accessible and varied green space.
“That initial step was ahead of commercial and residential development, which was quite an unusual way as the public realm usually comes right at the end,” said Alistair Lambert. The ‘meanwhile’ use of the site has also, for a number of years, seen the old freight building, Mayfield Depot, serve as a 10,000-capacity live event venue. It also features Freight Island, a lively dining and leisure destination.
The Mayfield Partnership is bringing back to life an unloved part of the city. It’s already become a brilliant asset and there’s much more to come.
Both Mayfield and the Great Northern Warehouse have called upon the city’s professional community, with Civic Engineers amongst the consultants supporting the projects.
Jason Ward, of Morgan Sindall Construction spoke of another rail legacy project - the 9.3-acre Hammerstone Depot, previously home to steam locomotive manufacturer Beyer, Peacock & Co, in Manchester. The £20 million scheme for Manchester City Council will see the 107,000 sq ft locomotive shed refurbished. It will house upgraded offices, storage space and workshop accommodation.
“It’s a complicated project and throughout a lengthy pre-construction process, we’ve worked collaboratively with the council to fully understand the design and how they use the building, and to support them through their finance boards.”
He talked about how Morgan Sindall Construction have unpacked the challenges the building poses and developed a series of Intelligent Solutions which enhance its green credentials. “We’ve done quite a lot of surveys. For example, half the site is used by Biffa for waste recycling services. The vehicles return every day and are washed down. And that was sourced via mains water. So we installed a sub-metre on the water mains to determine how much water was being used over a set period. The figure was very significant, so we agreed to build underground tanks to take all the grey water off the roofs. The drainage was failing anyway, so we’d have to have replaced it anyway, which would have come with a cost. So, we thought we’d take it all out of the building, put it underground, and use all that grey water to feed the pumps that wash the vehicles every day. There are a few nuances, but when we actually looked at the idea in terms of the capital costs versus cost in use, it worked out that the changes could pay back over around 15 years, plus all the carbon savings from vastly reducing the use of mains water.”
Other members of the panel commented that water use in buildings will move up the futureproofing agenda over the next 10 to 15 years as a carbon concern as heat waves result in its scarcity. Alistair Lambert, who lives in Surrey, pointed out that more than eight months on from a hosepipe band imposed in the summer of 2022, his county had still not been able to lift the restriction.
