Contract signed for London Road Fire Station restoration

Allied London has signed a contract with Quadriga to deliver the opening phase of redevelopment at the grade two star-listed building in Manchester.

Quadriga is understood to have agreed a deal to deliver external and internal restoration works at the building, which has been clad in scaffolding for more than a year.

A second phase, including a hotel, workspace, and leisure space, will follow the first phase; a contractor has yet to be appointed for this part of the works. Allied London’s chief executive Michael Ingall confirmed the contract with Quadriga had been agreed via Twitter, with the company managing a series of specialist trades to work on the restoration.

Quadriga is an historic buildings restoration specialist, with a prolific history of work in the North West. Projects the company has delivered include restorations of Allied London’s Bonded Warehouse in Manchester; the Tower Building in Liverpool; the Salford Royal Hospital; and Chester’s famous Bridge Street.

Allied London first submitted plans for the redevelopment of the prominent grade two star-listed site just behind Piccadilly Station in May last year, having bought it from previous owner Britannia Hotels in 2015.

Last August, Allied London appointed Watts Group as historic building management consultants to help oversee the work, alongside its in-house historic building surveyor Stephen Elllis, and Steven Levrant Historic Architecture. Allied London has also consulted with Historic England and Manchester City Council on the work.

Plans for the site, designed by architect Levitt Bernstein, include a 91-bed hotel, bars, restaurants, workspace, and 21 live-work units, with new build extensions also part of the proposals. Extensions will take the gross internal floorspace at the building from 144,400 sq ft to 172,100 sq ft.

A new hotel wing will sit in front of the existing London Road courtyard elevation, with the original façade becoming one side of a corridor connecting the two.

Zetter Hotels, which operates boutique hotels in London, was previously lined up as operator for this part of the development in 2016. Previous plans for apartments are understood to have been scrapped in the latest iteration of the project.

A management company for the Fire Station was set up in April last year at Companies House, with Ingall listed as a director alongside Suresh Gorasia, Allied London’s chief operating officer; corporate director Jonathan Raine; and financial director Freddie Graham-Watson. Similarly, an operating company was set up in January the same year, with the same four directors.