Manchester-based Sixtwo Architects has been hired to transform one of the city’s neglected mills into a “new type of office space with a raw industrial feel”.
The commission has come from specialist regeneration developer Urban Splash which is planning to convert Stubbs Mill in Piercy Street, a former Ancoats machine works, into 30,000 sq ft of commercial space. If the outline plans and feasibility study are approved, site work will start sometime next year.
“Whilst we are at a very early stage, and there will be no doubt many milestones to reach, our brief is for Stubbs Mill to be a new type of office space with a raw industrial feel but fully kitted up to meet modern technical requirements,” explained Urban Splash’s Nathan Cornish.
His company’s latest project is part of a larger £1bn plan to breathe new life into a once rundown part of inner-city Manchester. Work to transform the Ancoats and New Islington fringes began before the recession, but stalled as the economic downturn hit.
As well as salvaging many of the long-neglected mills and warehouses, the master plan also involves the creation of at least 800 new homes for the “new professionals” drawn into the area by their work. Urban Splash has also started the preparatory work for its new HoUSe scheme, where the first homes are expected to be completed early in 2015.
The developer has owned the canalside Stubbs Mill — originally used for the manufacturing and assembly of cotton industry machinery — since 2003.
“We are excited to be starting the design process on a new commercial development scheme which will add to the space that we’ve already developed close by at Ducie House, Waulk Mill and School House,” Cornish added. “The hard work starts now, and we won’t underestimate the challenges that come with reinventing this building.”
Sixtwo co-founder Andrew Edmunds said: “We think that Stubbs offers an amazing opportunity for us to deliver our ideas about how to create the office of the future and maximizing both the potential of the site and the building.
“We are looking forward to working with Urban Splash to deliver a really exciting scheme at Stubbs that we believe will be a true asset to Manchester.”
Founded just two years ago by Edmunds and fellow architect Nick Moss, Sixtwo has already built up an impressive portfolio of projects including the revamp of the Grade II listed former telephone exchange at Manchester’s Five New York Street for Bruntwood.
