The Factory (Manchester)
The Factory is a £130.6 million multi-disciplinary arts venue currently being constructed on the former site of Granada Studios, in the St John's Quarter of Manchester, being developed by Manchester Quays Ltd, a development partnership between Allied London and Manchester City Council, and is to be the permanent home of the Manchester International Festival. It has been claimed that the name comes from Factory Records, the independent record label founded by Tony Wilson.
Background
The development was announced in 2014. Initially the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced that the venue would cost £78 million, subsequently the council stated that they had managed to secure a further £32 million from "a variety of sources" but added that no public money would be used. The council said that the venue would "play an integral part in helping Manchester and the north of England provide a genuine cultural counterbalance to London". The government confirmed the £78 million towards the £110 million in November 2015. They also announced that, from 1 April 2018, they will provide Arts Council England with an additional £9 million per annum to offer revenue support to Factory.In July 2016, the council gave further details about the sources of the £110 million capital cost of the building: The following year, July 2017, the council announced changes to the design of the building would mean a larger orchestra pit, alterations to the facades and the capacity of the smaller venue reduced from 1,700 to 1,500. The revised designs will mean an increase in the overall cost to £111.65 million, £1.6 million to come from council borrowing and £50,000 from the Treasury.
The council also announced that an application for a new charity, The Factory Trust, to be chaired by Sir Howard Bernstein has been made to the Charities Commission. The council state that, "once the trust has charitable status, it will begin a programme of applications to Trusts and Foundations alongside approaches to individuals and corporations."
Overview
The building will cover, offering uniquely flexible spaces, including an auditorium with a capacity of up to 1,600 people, and a larger space - the warehouse - with a capacity of up to 5,000 people. The auditorium and warehouse will be able to present events simultaneously, but they will also be able to be combined. The warehouse space will also be able to be divided into two spaces. The scheme also includes the restoration and reuse of the northern brick arched portion of the Grade II-listed Colonnaded Railway Viaduct and a public realm to the north and west of the Factory building.Plans for The Factory also align with the adjacent Museum of Science and Industry, which "will become part of the creative public realm, with MSI's creative science... balancing the creative and cultural production of Factory." The MSI plan to build a new £6 million Special Exhibition Gallery alongside The Factory; the new gallery is set to be complete by 2018.
Project board structure
In the summer of 2015, it was announced that the design and development process would be overseen by a Project Board set up by Manchester City Council with Maria Balshaw appointed the Single Responsible Owner for the project. Funding and project monitoring is the responsibility of ACE, who have agreed to second Simon Mellor, ACE's Executive Director, Arts and Culture, for up to two days a week. His role will be to support the further development of the business case and to work up the technical brief for the design team. Mellor was previously a General Director at MIF. Other contacts for the project include: Joanne Roney, Dave Carty and Pat Bartoli.In June 2016, it was announced that the chief operating officer for BBC England, Jenny Baxter, was to become project director of The Factory from autumn 2016, at a salary of £140,000 to be paid by Manchester City Council.
Manchester City Council granted planning permission for the building in January 2017, announcing at the same time that Manchester International Festival will operate the centre, with Mark Ball, the former artistic director of the London International Festival of Theatre, joining MIF in June 2017 as Creative Director to oversee the development of The Factory programme alongside MIF Artistic Director and Chief Executive John McGrath.
In July 2017 several new board members were announced :
- Malcolm Press
- Jamil Khalil
- Cathryn Wright
- Richard Bell, and
- Lemn Sissay.
- Alan Bishop, and
- Amy Lawrence.
Design team appointments
- Lot 1: Architectural Services: Lead design consultant, preparation and brief, concept design, development design, technical design, provide construction production information, handover and close out. Estimated cost £4 million.
- Lot 2: Theatre Consultant Services: Provide theatre consultant design services from feasibility and design options, developed design, technical design including auditorium, rehearsal rooms, hall design and other spaces relating to producing and performance, construction production information, handover and close out. Estimated cost £1.2 million.
- Lot 3: Structural & Civil Engineer Services: Provide structural and civil engineering design services to produce the structural design, including that relating to the production of 3-D spatial co-ordination and clash detection between the structural and other design elements from pre-construction, construction and handover and close out. Estimated cost £1.25 million.
- Lot 4: Building Services Engineer Services: Responsible for ensuring that all aspects of the mechanical and electrical design are fully co-ordinated including the production of 3-D clash detection between the mechanical and electrical services and any other design elements from pre-construction, construction and handover and close out. Estimated cost £1.25 million.
- Lot 5: Cost Consultant and Employer's Agent Services: Responsible for cost management services including concept design, options appraisals, developed design, technical design, contract pricing, change management, cost control during construction, signing monthly valuations as client representative and final account settlement. Estimated cost £1.3 million.
- Lot 6: Fire Engineer Services: Provide fire engineer services developing the fire strategy from pre-construction, construction and handover and close out. Estimated cost £100,000.
- Lot 7: Acoustic Engineer Services: Provide acoustic engineering services developing the acoustic strategy from pre-construction, construction and handover and close out. Estimated cost £420,000.
Architectural design team
Out of the 48 architectural firms who expressed an interest, the following nine were invited to go forward by the council:
The successful company chosen by the council was Office for Metropolitan Architecture with its lead designer Rem Koolhaas.
Timescale
The timeframe established by the Project Board contained the following key milestones:- July 2015 - issue of the contract for design services
- Mid-November 2015 - design team appointments
- August 2016 - planning application submission
- February 2017 to September 2019 - construction
- August 2019 to November 2019 - commissioning of facilities and test events
- Beginning of 2020 - opening ceremony
The planning application was submitted to the council in November 2016, and approved in January 2017.
Revised timetable
A revised planning application, taking account of some design changes, is due to be submitted in September 2017 with a decision expected in November 2017. This will result in the venue opening in September 2020, with test events from April / May 2020, rather than the original plan of the opening ceremony at the beginning of 2020.Training and employment
It is intended that the Factory should deliver a skills, engagement and training programme that is divided into two elements:It is also anticipated that the venue will have 125 permanent staff plus 15 apprentices. Funding will come from the Factory Trust which is due to be established for the purposes of fundraising.