Firm’s 25 years of making a splash
MANCHESTER has changed a lot over the past two decades, with a skyline that continues to transform year on year.
Now an exhibition showcasing some of the city’s best-loved buildings and developments from the past 25 years is on show in the city centre.
It Will Never Work is an exhibition by award-winning Manchester-based regeneration company Urban Splash.
The anniversary show chronicles a quarter of a century of the firm’s developments, focusing on the company’s RIBA award-winning projects.
The exhibition has toured the UK in 2018, visiting Liverpool, Birmingham and London.
It is now returning home to Manchester where it will be on display at Manchester Metropolitan University’s School of Art until November 17.
Urban Splash was founded in 1993 by chairman Tom Bloxham and creative director Jonathan Falkingham. Headquartered in Manchester, the company has invested £1 billion, creating more than 5,000 new homes and jobs in over two million sq ft of commercial space.
Mancunians will get to see the story behind some of the city’s most innovative buildings and developments, including Urban Splash’s early efforts at Ducie House in Manchester, their upside-down houses at Chimney Pot Park in Salford, the Chip Building in Ancoats, and the company’s many mill restorations that helped establish the Northern Quarter and put Castlefield on the map.
There are also displays featuring contemporary Urban Splash developments like House, which is now sold out in Manchester and Salford, but will be on offer again at New Islington in 2019.
The exhibition explores the Urban Splash projects through the years, looking at the context in which these developments were created and the specific challenges and opportunities of the day.
Mr Falkingham said: “The exhibition has been curated to not only show the work we’ve done, but also to show the political, social and economic circumstances of the day.
“We’ve done this by splitting the exhibition out into distinct chronological periods, such as the early 1990s when cities – notably northern cities – were poorly regarded, to the rise of urbanism and an appreciation for cities in the late 1990s, to looking ahead to the future and the creation of largescale neighbourhoods.”
The exhibition was being launched today by Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.
The panel will discuss the changes over the past 25 years in the city, as well as look forward to the future and answer questions on what needs to be done.
Mr Burnham said: “Greater Manchester has undergone a massive transformation over the years and this exhibition showcases the role of Urban Splash on that journey. I’m looking forward to seeing the show and meeting many of the collaborators.”