Historic England lists Manchester’s ‘strikingly Modernist’ Renold Building
The recently redeveloped 110,000 sq ft asset that sits off Altrincham Street within Bruntwood SciTech’s £1.7bn Sister masterplan has been given grade two-listed status.
An application from the 20th Century Society to give the Renold Building at the former UMIST campus in Manchester protected status has been approved by Historic England after a 20-year campaign to have its significance formally recognised, the group said.
Historic England said the building is “the first purpose-built lecture block in an English institution of higher education” and that it boasts “one of the earliest examples in England” of slab-and-podium design.
Built in the early 1960s for the Manchester College of Technology, and designed by W A Gibbon with Gordon Hodkinson of Cruickshank and Seward, the Renold Building was also commended for its “strikingly Modernist and sculptural design”.
While previously a lecture theatre, the building has recently been brought back to life as workspace by developer Bruntwood SciTech, which is leading the regeneration of the former UMIST campus for the University of Manchester.
A spokesperson for Sister said: “We respect the decision to list the Renold Building and, as a responsible developer and custodian of the former UMIST campus, we’ll ensure full compliance with the listing order.
“From the outset of the Sister project, we have worked closely with heritage bodies and stakeholders to ensure that culturally and architecturally significant elements are preserved and integrated sensitively into the vision for the neighbourhood.
“Our priority remains to deliver a regeneration scheme that celebrates the site’s heritage while unlocking its full potential as part of Manchester’s knowledge economy.”
Some elements of Bruntwood SciTech’s plans for the campus have proven controversial with conservation groups like the 20th Century Society, such as plans to demolish the Barnes Wallis and Wright Robinson Building, Manchester Meeting Place, Morton Laboratory and Moffat Building, and the Butterfly Stairs to pave the way for 585,000 sq ft of new office space.
In addition, plans to partially encapsulate the grade two-listed Hollaway Wall inside one of the office buildings has divided opinion.
This is a fantastic building, formal recognition via the listing system is well overdue. Just a shame some of the other stand-out post-war buildings in the campus have not yet made the cut
By Anonymous
I often wonder on how many occasions that the folks behind the listings actually care for Architecture, or do they simply want to eff about with potential future development? Bit of both, I reckon.
By Sam
The staircase is the best feature of this building.
By Elephant
Interesting when you look on Historic England’s website, the surrounding non-listed buildings all now have a certificate of immunity from listing on them.
By Bradford
Strikingly modernist from one viewpoint only. The other frontages are a bag of spanners
By MJC
Great news.
By Sten
Surely the Butterfly Stairs must be integral to the listing?
By M101
So, Historic England list the Renold Building, but they never got round to listing the Hotspur Press building?
By Anon
Great news – although more existing buildings across the site should be retained to give proper recognition for this era of building. The adjacent Parisier building would look great with a bit of refurbishment – hope this and its green space in front is retained.
By Urbano
You’re dead right, MJC. Have Historic England walked around the building?? I can’t imagine this will do much good for the plans to redevelop umist. Do these people actually want economic growth or for us all to live and work in a modernist, concrete hellscape. Shall we list the Arndale tower, too?
By Tom
The Renolds building has modernist architectural merit, and is unlike any other building in Manchester from that era. The Hotspur press is just another brick Victorian building similar to many in the city and across the north of England.
By Anonymous
They don’t want to ‘encapsulate’ the Grade II listed sculptural wall, they wish to dismember and encase it. Encapsulate implies some level of protection, which is the last thing on the developer’s mind. They have wanted to dispose of it at every stage of the process, rather than thinking about how to preserve and celebrate it. They may accept the listing of the Renold Building, but fought it vociferously behind the scenes. They do not care about culture one iota.
By Anonymous
Ugly as sin
By Don cheglioni
Great descision. Quality building.
By Anonymous
I think some of the commenters are really missing the point here. The Renold Building is now back in use as co-working space or whatever, so regardless of its merits it isn’t a block to any wider redevelopment.
Still rather odd that Sister/Brentwood wouldn’t support the listing given Bruntwood have a really good track record of doing good things with 60s buildings. Or was the rehab of Renold just a meanwhile use to get over heritage objections while hoping to be able to drop it later?
By Rotringer
What an eyesore
By Anonymous
Having this listed adds huge kudos to the wider development – so it’s somewhat shocking if it’s the case that Bruntwood or their partners actively lobbied against this listing. I genuinely believe this is one of Manchester’s best buildings. It’s just so satisfying to look at.
The mooted extension would’ve practically destroyed it.
By Anonymous