The marriage between England’s industrial heritage and contemporary design can be a successful one, as is evident from ING Real Estate Development’s Royal Mills in the Ancoats area of Manchester. Centuries may separate the former textile mills’ time-worn brickwork and their newly installed curvy glass atrium, but the two live happily side by side.
The mill complex’s regeneration, designed by FSP Architects, has brought together original and new design and building materials to create 312 apartments but also, appropriately for a former hive of industry, 82,500 square feet of office and business space. The atrium overlooks the internal courtyard where the office and business centre is located. The ground floor level includes retail and leisure space, so the general public will have a chance to use and enjoy the new atrium space.
Apartments are a mix of new build and conversions, with converted apartments having original features such as cast iron columns and arches, exposed brickwork and vaulted ceilings. The development team consulted with heritage experts and industrial historians to deliver the project sensitively. North West Development Agency provided £9.3 million of grant funding to help bring through the project, which is part of the broader east Manchester regeneration.
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