Buttress Architects | Hulme City Challenge

In 1991, we were commissioned by Hulme Regeneration Limited, a Joint Venture between Manchester City Council and AMEC, as lead design consultants to create a concept and masterplan for the regeneration of Hulme, based on the visioning work of Canadian Joe Berridge. Part funded by the City Challenge initiative, the site is comprised of approximately 230 acres of inner city land suffering from major decline.
Inner city decline

The delivery of the masterplan was the second major change for Hulme in half a century. The first began in the 1960s, when 120ha of high-density, back-to-back terraces that had characterised the area during the Victorian period were cleared and replaced by four and five storey concrete ‘crescents’.

The city’s architects originally envisioned the crescents as ‘streets in the sky’ segregated from traffic, and with walkways that provided access within and between the blocks.

However, just three years after they were completed, residents marched on the town hall protesting against standards after a child died from falling off a balcony, forcing the council to relocate families elsewhere.
Working density

At the heart of the masterplanning strategy was an understanding of the underpinning scale and development of the area which had been lost in the 1970s.

The grid iron of the masterplan reproduced the old street pattern and reinstated Stretford Road, once a busy road, leading through to the city centre, reintegrating the district into surrounding areas.

Density was doubled from 37 dwellings per hectare to 75-87 dwellings a hectare, designed to be of sufficient density to animate streets, support public transport, sustain shops and services, and allow the community to re-establish itself.
A myriad of technical problems subsequently plagued the crescents. Socially, levels of crime and anti-social behaviour grew, marring the crescents reputation throughout the 1970s and 1980s. By 1980, all families had been removed from the estate.

In 1992, the government granted funding to demolish the crescents and a partnership consisting of local government, construction companies, housing associations and private investors was established to deliver the redevelopment. Hulme Regeneration Ltd took the lead, and residents were actively encouraged by the Hulme Tenants Participation Project to take part in shaping the design of individual housing schemes. At the time, the project was considered one of Britain’s largest exercises in community architecture.
Housing: Hulme High Street

Within Hulme a number of developments were identified, with Hulme High Street, central to the regeneration of the area as a whole.

The high street comprised the development of 211 apartments and townhouses. These sit in linear and circular blocks and create the new Hulme High Street which connects through to the Princess Parkway, one of the main arterial roads into Manchester city centre.

The blocks were designed with distinctive forms and varying heights, which work together to create a strong sense of place inherent in the masterplan outline.
Housing: Life Building

The Life Building formed the final piece of development in the realisation of the masterplan for a new Hulme.

Sited adjacent to a supermarket, The Life Building comprises commercial units, apartments, maisonettes and townhouses, and is distinguished by the large covered central courtyard which is the main amenity for all residents. Within this block, and the circular building at the end of the High Street, all parking is underground leaving the ground floor free for communal entry and activity.

The design of each of the development plots contributes to a contemporary appearance for this new sector of Hulme. Each of the buildings maintains its own distinctive character through individual form, thereby creating a strong identity and sense of place.

The place-making strengths of the schemes as a collective whole are the product of carefully considered responses to the qualities and juxtapositions of the individual sites and how they can contribute to a clearly recognisable neighbourhood.
Urban Design Code

Following the success of the masterplan and its relevance to other problem inner-city areas, we contributed to the creation of the Hulme Regeneration Urban Design Code. The code was subsequently adopted by Manchester City Council and formed the core document from which the City Design Code was developed. We have since developed and applied our Hulme research to many other masterplans.
Image credits: Historic images provided courtesy of Manchester Metropolitan University

Inner city decline

Working density

Housing: Hulme High Street

Housing: Life Building

Urban Design Code