Changing cities Liverpool and Manchester have undergone huge changes recently – are they getting the architecture they deserve? asks Jon Neale.
The urban fabric of both Liverpool and Manchester has changed beyond all recognition over the past decade. Both cities now sport, alongside their Victorian heritage, a variety of new buildings that have brought vitality to each.
But not all believe that either city is getting the quality of architecture it deserves – compared not only to London but also to European centres that are their natural competitors, such as Munich, Toulouse or Valencia.
In August, Financial Times architecture critic Edwin Heathcote attacked the “bland superficiality” of key centres including Manchester and Liverpool, where “fading 1960s buildings have been flattened to make way for flash, glossy, glassy facades, as thin as paper and as intellectually deep”. There is little sense of heritage, he argued – in Manchester’s Piccadilly, for example, you could be in “Toronto or Denver”.
Bland already
This belief is not restricted to newspaper critics. Michael Hawkins, partner at WHR Property Consultants in Manchester, says: “There is a lot of poor architecture. Some of it is already bland and passé. That really is disappointing because of the cost of construction. It’s a particular problem in Liverpool, where the historic architecture is outstanding.”
Unsurprisingly, architects do not take these disparaging remarks lying down, and argue that the region’s architecture is more than up to scratch.
As Denver Humphrey, director at Fairhurst Design Group, puts it: “I don’t see this bland consistency. You will always get individual buildings that aren’t that good, but you have such a range, combined with good-quality public buildings.
“A lot of the new buildings are very charismatic, with the kind of architecture you don’t get in the US. And most buildings are well contextualised, and the planners have been instrumental in that.”
HKR Architects director Jon Matthews is especially enthusiastic about design in Manchester. “The area round Piccadilly Place is stunning now. Manchester does feel like a 21st-century city,” he says. “When you see the scale of buildings and the way the space between them has been designed, it shows that Manchester’s concerted efforts to reinvigorate the prime core are really working.”
He reserves particular praise for the Civil Justice Centre at Spinningfields, adding that he will be “staggered if it doesn’t win the Stirling Prize”.
Green glass building
The Denton Corker Marshall-designed project has an 11-storey atrium, a 200ft x 200ft glass façade and cantilevering fingers that give it a striking design, along with cutting-edge environmental technologies: natural ventilation, a “veil” to reduce solar gain and groundwater cooling.
Allied London’s Spinningfields has arguably set the bar for architecture quality in Manchester. The developer attracted different architects, including Foster & Partners and Sheppard Robson, for different buildings.
Ian Butler, head of Sheppard Robson’s northern office, says: “Spinningfields has redefined the grade-A offer in Manchester. Certainly, with buildings such as those, grade-A space in the city is comparable to that in London.”
Mike Ingall, chief executive of Allied London, is convinced that the design and specification at the scheme is as high as anywhere in the world, but adds: “I don’t think that’s the case for all buildings.
“With buildings that have been built speculatively, the value-to-cost equation is always a big driver. Inevitably, it’s very tempting for people to cut costs and corners, hoping they will maintain a profit. But you build an inferior office building today at your peril, because basically the majority of occupiers won’t take it.”
Other buildings that find favour in Manchester include the Ian Simpson-designed Beetham Tower, which Butler says is “up-to-the-minute in terms of residential design, and is as good as you will get anywhere in the UK”.
Developers such as Beetham and Allied London are among those taking architecture seriously. Another is West Properties, which is behind the three-building Origin scheme on Princess Street. Designed by Ian Simpson, it features a210-bedroom hotel, 160 flats and 62,000 sq ft of commercial space.
Ben Richardson, director at West Properties, says architecture is at the forefront of the development.
“We could try to mirror the Victorian buildings already there, but you can never quite pull that off. It has to be something modern, but something that sits well with the existing architecture and complements it. At our design competition, the three jewel-like buildings jumped off the page at us,” he says.
Definitive building wanted
Among most developers and agents there is a reluctance to single out examples of poor architecture in Manchester. Some suggest that the Piccadilly area remains drab, although the completion of Argent’s Piccadilly Place could change that.
Sheppard Robson’s Butler suggests that, despite the city’s progress, Manchester still lacks a definitive office building.
“Although we have landmark public buildings and well-designed space, we don’t have an iconic office building, and I suggest that someone might want to do that,” he says.
Meanwhile, Ingall cannot point to any buildings that he feels fail to make the grade, although he does add that many residential schemes could have been better thought out.
Indeed, residential rather than commercial design looks as if it could be more of a pressing issue in the years ahead.
Although some observers may not be convinced, most in the property industry seem to accept that major office buildings in city centres such as Manchester are generally bright, adventurous and of good quality.
The challenge will be to create a similar improvement in provincial housing stock, where drab residential schemes with little architectural input are still the order of the day.
Liverpool has more of a struggle
Buoyant rental values of around £30 per sq ft in Manchester mean that, with a bit of imagination, its office buildings can easily match those around the world.
In Liverpool, where rents have just reached £20 per sq ft, this is not always the case. Whereas some residential and retail buildings are stunning, say commentators, the city has yet to catch up with Manchester when it comes to offices.
Jon Matthews, director of HKR, believes there are fewer standout buildings and some recent developments have not been up to par. However, he labels the architecture at Grosvenor’s Liverpool One, which involved such names as Cesar Pelli, John McAslan and CZWG, as “stunning”.
John Stanard, regional pilot manager for CABE, says he would point to Rumford’s Unity development at 20 Chapel Street, designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, as an example of a good Liverpool scheme: “There is a quality in the design and the thought and attention being paid to it. It adds to Liverpool’s dramatic skyline.
“Beetham’s West Tower is also good – partly because it is the ideal location for a tall building. That is down to the planning, and thoughts about how Liverpool works.”
