Bridgewater House is a Grade II listed commercial office building in the City Centre of Manchester. Built to the designs of Harry S Fairhurst, a renowned Manchester Architect, when constructed it was the world’s largest packing warehouse. Designed for Lloyds it solved the horse-drawn traffic problems of the time by creatin a loading bay that could handle 26 vehicles at one time. In common with other listed buildings, we have gained a unique insight into the history of the building through extensive research. This enables us to justify works to the building in a meaningful historic context.

 

We have successfully worked on this building for a number of years gaining listed building consent for sensitive, yet commercially viable, refurbishment works on numerous floors. Design works have also included CAT A works for the new basement Gym and external alterations to the entrances.

 

Our last intervention was to provide design services in the comprehensive restoration of the primary elevations of this building. There was a lot of cracking, much arising from internal steel corrosion with some the result of weathering. The structural engineer wanted to replace 550 blocks whilst the Conservation Officer did not want to replace any. A thorough study of the elevations helped us to identify 1. Blocks that could be adequately repaired in-situ. 2. Blocks that could have new faces and 3. Blocks that needed to be replaced. This reduced the number of total, or face, replacements to 115, a compromise acceptable to all parties. The repair costs were greatly reduced, and the building suffered less interventions than would have been the case meaning less disturbance to a fabric over 100 years old.

 

Client – Bruntwood, then Cording Real Estate

Project Management - Savills 

Heritage services provided by Atelier Heritage.