THING OF THE WEEK

STEAM-SPIRATION… Power Hall has reopened at last at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. This gallery and its steam engines may just be one of the most impactful exhibitions out there when it comes to the North West property market. It has been a source of inspiration for budding engineers for decades, courtesy of its popularity as a school trip visit.

Iain Shaw of Max Fordham is one of those lucky kids who credits Power Hall for encouraging him to look into the great wide world of engineering. Shaw, pictured above with a steam train, told Place North West that repeated trips to Power Hall as a kid had set him on the engineering career path. In a full circle moment, he got to use the very skills that the hall inspired to modernise and decarbonise it. The experience was one of a kind, he said.

“Nowhere else can you work with top-level designers, an amazingly ambitious client, moving Victorian engines, ground source heat pumps, steam systems, and then be able to put them on display to hopefully inspire the next 30 years of school trips from across the North West like I was,” Shaw said. “It’s such a unique project…and I have been very lucky with the projects I have worked on in the last few years!”

We can’t wait to meet the engineers of tomorrow who are inspired by the hall today.

Credit: via Stockport Council

SLATE… There are many ways to mark a milestone during a construction project. Burying a time capsule to baffle future generations, signing a steel beam, handprints in concrete – you name it, it has been done. At the site of the former St Thomas’ Hospital in Stockport this week, the moment that a ceremonial site visit was hung on was the laying of the final slate on the roof of one of the buildings.

The first phase of the long-awaited scheme, which is being built by Rowlinson, will provide an 82-bed intermediate care facility with eight supported housing units and was described by council leader Cllr Mark Roberts as “a new benchmark for town centre living”.

Credit: Ali Saadat via Unsplash

CHAMPION IN THE HOOD… 100-year-old sports and fashion brand Champion is opening a 2,000 sq ft store at Manchester Arndale. We have lost track of the number of deals done at the retail complex of late but Champion’s arrival piqued our interest due in part to a claim made in the press release announcing the deal.

In said release, Champion is described as “the brand that invented the hoodie”, which is a bold claim, and one that a quick Google search seems to back up. Back when the hoodie was born, Champion was known as the Knickerbocker Knitting Company, which is a much better name, we are sure you’ll agree.

 

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MAYDAY… Did anyone catch Manchester architectural royalty on Sky this week? Roger Stephenson appeared on Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year in an episode that aired this Tuesday. The man behind Stirling Prize-nominated buildings including at Chethams School of Music is also a dab hand with a paint brush, it turns out. No spoilers here but you can find the episode online to find out how he got on when tasked with painting former Top Gear presenter James May.

BINMAN… It is important that leaders are not afraid to get their hands dirty and are willing to muck in should circumstances dictate. This week, Salford City Council chief executive Stephen Young did just that by getting up even earlier than usual and swapping the usual whistle and flute for hi-vis to join the authority’s environmental services team on a bin round.

Locally sourced spades were in fact a-plenty. Credit: PNW

BYOS?… Groundbreaking ceremonies come in all shapes and sizes. The bigger the scheme, the more faces in hard hats squeezing to get into the celebratory drone shot on a remediated plot. Some can include fireworks, a live band, or even bagpipes – we’ve seen it all. So, when Peel Waters’ mega 2,350-home Central Docks had its moment earlier this week, eyebrows were raised at Place when the invitation included a message requesting attendees bring their own spade. Unsurprisingly, spades were provided in what felt like a sick trick to play on an attendee who might have dragged a spade from Lime Street station down the seemingly never-ending Regent Road in vain.