Medieval Manchester Masterplan, City Centre

Manchester City Council

Commissioned in May 2009 by Manchester City Council, in partnership with relevant stakeholders, to undertake a master plan study which focused on the traditional birth place of the medieval town of Manchester.

The study sought to best exploit the existing historic and cultural treasures to create a rejuvenated urban quarter benefitting the wider cultural and economic well being of the city. The proposals demonstrated the sites development potential, setting out a number of design strategies that helped reinforce a medieval Manchester brand and visitor experience, creating a reinvigorated urban quarter.

Working within the framework of existing spaces, such as Cathedral Gardens and the courtyard fronting buildings within Chetham’s School of Music medieval boundary walls, the concept sought to work with these spaces, with interventions that revive and reinvigorate, simultaneously encouraging links with new areas of public realm which combined to form an interpretable whole that would revitalise Manchester’s remaining medieval assets.