Buttress Architects | 52 Princess Street

The reception had the feel of a cheap hotel, while the office space itself was a generic ‘anywhere’ space. The building was capable of much more, and we knew that by using, not hiding, its features, we could create a desirable base for the creative sector.

This Grade II listed warehouse building in Manchester’s city centre had been largely vacant since its previous refurbishment in 1994. The previous fit out was of a poor quality and inappropriate. However, we quickly realised this was more than just a cosmetic fix.

Working with Bridge Properties, we set about creating an identity for the building that would appeal to its target tenant market - businesses in the creative industries - but that would also respect its historic features, which had been almost entirely covered up by the previous fit out.

The interior was stripped back to the original fabric, which meant gaining significant floor area in the process. We then looked in detail at each section of the elevation and the building's ceiling panels to determine which to cover and which to restore in order to achieve cohesion in the finished office spaces.

Before and after