St John's is a proposed £1 bn development of a 6 hectare plot within central

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. The site is being developed by Manchester Quays Ltd (MQL), a partnership between

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

and

Allied London Allied London is a property development and investment company that develops landmark projects ranging from re-use to regeneration developments across retail, commercial, office, residential, restaurant, and leisure sectors. The company also offe ...

Development

The development will see up to 2,500 homes, up to 600,000 sq ft of workspace, mostly aimed at creative industries, (80,000 sq ft of this via refurbishment of the Bonded Warehouse), up to 400,000 sq ft of leisure space, incorporating some of the existing entertainment and studio buildings. The development will be on the former site of

Granada Studios Old Granada Studios (known simply as Granada Studios and previously known as The Manchester Studios) is a television studio complex and events venue on Quay Street in Manchester with the facility to broadcast live and recorded television programm ...

but it will extend as far as the Museum of Science and Industry and the

Marriott Hotel Marriott Hotels & Resorts is Marriott International's brand of full-service hotels and resorts based in Bethesda, Maryland. As of June 30, 2020, there were 582 hotels and resorts with 205,053 rooms operating under the brand, in addition to 160 ...

on Water Street.

SimpsonHaugh and Partners SimpsonHaugh (formerly Ian Simpson Architects) is an English architecture practice established in 1987 by Ian Simpson and Rachel Haugh. The practice has offices in London and Manchester. In 2014, the practice re-branded as Simpson Haugh & Pa ...

are behind the masterplan which will also see two fifty storey towers and three hotels, including the Granada Hotel incorporating the iconic red neon 'Granada TV' sign.

The Factory

The development will feature a new £110 million theatre and arts venue called The Factory. Its name comes from

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Durutt ...

, the independent record label founded by the late

Tony Wilson Anthony Howard Wilson (20 February 1950 – 10 August 2007) was a British record label owner, radio and television presenter, nightclub manager, impresario and a journalist for Granada Television, the BBC and Channel 4. As a co-founder o ...

. The flexible space will provide a permanent home to the

Manchester International Festival The Manchester International Festival is a biennial international arts festival, with a specific focus on original new work, held in the English city of Manchester and run by Factory International. The festival is a biennial event, first taking ...

. The £9.5m design contracts were put out to tender in July 2015. The successful company named by the council in November 2015 was the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) with its lead designer

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...

. The entire space will cover 13,000 square meters and will be flexible enough to accommodate combined audiences of up to 7,000, although it is envisaged that it will operate mainly as a 1,600-seat theatre space plus a 5,000-capacity warehouse space.Pdf.
/ref> The opening ceremony is planned for the end of 2019.

References

External links

Development's website

Manchester City Council's Regeneration Team
{{Manchester Areas of Manchester Planned developments