The Centenary Building is a building at the

University of Salford The University of Salford is a Public university, public research university in Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford, Greater Manchester, England, west of Manchester city centre. The Royal Technical Institute, Salford, which opened in 1896, be ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England. It was designed by the architect

Stephen Hodder Stephen Hodder (born 1956) is an English architect who won the RIBA's Stirling Prize in 1996. He is also a partner at his own practice Hodder Associates which was founded in 1992 in Manchester. In 2012, Hodder was elected for a two-year term ...

, completed in December 1995, and opened in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. The building won the RIBA Award and inaugural

Stirling Prize The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The ...

in 1996, as well as the

Civic Trust Award The Civic Trust Awards scheme is a British awards scheme to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment. It was established in 1959, and is the longest-standing built environment awards scheme in Europe. The ...

in 1998. In October 2024, the Twentieth Century Society submitted a listing application for the building citing its architectural significance. In November 2024, the University of Salford announced plans to demolish the building. These plans have been met with opposition, including from the original architect.

Site and brief

The site is situated on the edge of the city of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and lies within the campus of the

. The brief specified a building which was a "fusion of design and technology" to house the Spatial, Graphic and Industrial Design Department of the university. Hodder had 11 weeks to finish the design stage and begin development on site in order to ensure the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

grant was eligible and it was built for less than £4 million.

Architecture

The building consists of two separate glazed structures set as a frame to an informal galleried atrium, with service towers, studio and seminar accommodation are housed within a four-storey orthogonal block on the "City side" of the development. The connection between the two blocks is a raised street within which all horizontal circulation is contained in galleries. Working details of the escape stair are enclosed in glass block screen. Other materials include stainless steel cladding and concrete. Accommodation includes seminar rooms, video-editing suites, and lecture halls. The building was designed without air conditioning, instead relying on a natural ventilation system and underfloor heating which were hallmarks of its environmentally-friendly construction. However, this led to staff complaints of it being too cold in winter and too hot in the summer. Some rooms have no external windows, relying instead on borrowed light from the central atrium. Outside of rooms, all spaces are designed for transit and thus there are no informal 'social' areas in the building. The Centenary Building received several awards, including the

RIBA ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130

Award (1996), the RIBA Architecture in Education Category Award (1996), the Stirling Prize for Architecture (1996), and the

(1998).

Listing and demolition proposals

In October 2024, the C20 Society (Twentieth Century Society) submitted a listing application for the Centenary Building. The building had been vacant for several years and had suffered from vandalism. Previous proposals to repurpose the building had not progressed, and the application aims to protect it amid the ongoing redevelopment of the surrounding area. In November 2024, the

announced plans to demolish the building as part of a redevelopment of the Adelphi Village area. In its rationale for the decision to demolish the building, the university has said the "ageing infrastructure means it no longer meets modern standards and requirements." The design, which features the visible movement of people and had a lack of sound insulation, made it noisy with the sound of feet on the metal staircases reverberating around the building. The proposal to demolish the Centenary Building has sparked controversy.

, the building's architect described the building as a key part of his professional legacy, and argued that the building, which is under 30 years old, should not be demolished solely due to aging infrastructure, as this does not justify the environmental costs of demolition and rebuilding. Hodder also highlighted the contradiction between the university's sustainability goals and the significant

carbon emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

that would result from the redevelopment project. Dr. Carole O'Reilly, a senior lecturer at Salford University, acknowledged the building's architectural significance but suggests that its failure to meet current needs might justify its demolition. Conservationists and environmental campaigners, including the Architects Climate Action Network, Architects Declare, the C20 Society and Don't Waste Buildings, raised concerns about the environmental and cultural loss involved in demolishing an award-winning structure, advocating for

adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse is the reuse of an existing building for a purpose other than that for which it was originally built or designed. It is also known as recycling and conversion. The adaptive reuse of buildings can be a viable alternative to new con ...

instead, emphasising the building's historical value. In response to the demolition proposal,

board chair Jack Pringle, while not commenting specifically on the Centenary Building, emphasised the importance of the inventive reuse of buildings to achieve a net-zero future. He also suggested that all Stirling Prize-winning buildings should be considered for listing.

References

External links

Hodder and Partners, Centenary Building, Salford
{{Salford B&S , state=collapsed Buildings and structures completed in 1995 Buildings and structures in Salford University of Salford Recipients of Civic Trust Awards