Regen photographer turns lens on Noma, Trafford Town Hall
Award-winning Manchester photographer and writer, Len Grant, has been commissioned to produce books about both the Co-operative Group's new £100m headquarters, Noma, and Shepherd Aligned's £30m refurbishment of Trafford Town Hall.
Grant, who has documented Manchester's regeneration for the past 20 years, will produce progress photographs in his own style as well as interviewing key players, researching the histories of each site and project managing each publication to completion.
"Documenting progress on both of these sites is proving to be fascinating," he said. "Each is clearly different and yet they both have fascinating pasts to explore. I'll be concentrating on the personalities, of course, and on making legacy books that creatively reflect the projects' aspirations."
Robert Cohen, senior communications manager at the Co-operative, said: "We wanted to work with Len because of his extensive experience in documenting major building projects in Manchester. Len has a particular talent for capturing not just the physical building process but the human angle on the story too in a creative and engaging way."
Richard Squire, project director at Shepherd Aligned, which, with 5Plus Architects, has hired Grant, added: "There's a truly interesting story to tell at Trafford Town Hall. Yes, it's about renovating a listed building and constructing a new extension, but it's also about how that leads to transformational change for the council. As an empathetic documenter, we know Len will tell that story well."
Grant's documentation of the city's recent built environment includes books on the construction of the MEN Arena, the Bridgewater Hall, the Lowry, and Carver's Warehouse. He's photographed the second runway at Manchester Airport, the Imperial War Museum North and the rebuilding of the city centre following the 1996 IRA bomb. For east Manchester – in particular New Islington – he has produced numerous magazines, books and exhibitions.