Food hall and music venue planned for NOMA

Hermes has revealed plans to convert New Century Hall in Manchester into a food hall, music venue, and creative college.

Working with architect Sheppard Robson, Hermes has put forward the proposals for the grade-two listed building, which will be occupied by a single tenant operating the college, venue, and food hall, with the venue set to host a variety of concerts with a capacity of around 1,000.

In total, the building will provide nearly 50,000 sq ft of mixed-use space; the basement will be a purpose-built college with the capacity for 400 students, with the ground floor to be used as an 8,000 sq ft food hall and informal meeting space.

Above, the main music hall will be used by the college and also covers around 8,000 sq ft.

The entrance to the food hall and venue will be via the ground floor which will be fully refurbished to bring back an active frontage to the building. There will also be another entrance via Dantzic Street.

Subject to planning work is expected to start in the third or fourth quarter this year. In 2014, planning permission was secured to convert the ground floor of the building into retail units but this never progressed; the latest planning application will supercede the previous consent.

Russells is lined up as main contractor to deliver the project, while the professional team also includes Deloitte as planner, Clancy Consulting, Aecom, Crookes Walker, and Workman. Colliers and JLL are the retained agents for NOMA.

A spokesperson for NOMA said: “We are progressing with our plans to bring New Century Hall back to life through a mix of cultural, retail and leisure uses. This is part of the ongoing refurbishment of the listed estate at NOMA, which forms a key part of the NOMA neighbourhood.”