Levitt Bernstein reimagines fire station
Allied London and Levitt Bernstein have submitted design proposals to reinvigorate Manchester’s London Road Fire Station, a space that has been largely dormant for years. The plan has been carefully designed to reinvigorate the building, as well as the surrounding neighbourhood.
The Grade II* listed Edwardian Baroque style structure, which had fallen into disrepair when Allied London purchased the building in 2015, will be refurbished and expanded to house a boutique hotel, bars, restaurants, workspace and apartments.
Throughout, and wherever possible, the historic building fabric will be protected and preserved, whilst a new hotel wing will sit in front of the existing London Road courtyard elevation, with the original façade becoming one side of a corridor connecting the two. This extension is conceived as a metal tableau, designed to reference the site’s heritage and create a harmonious composition within the courtyard.
In the Fairfield Street wing, the old firemen’s flats will be adapted to create a series of workspaces and apartments – each of which responds to the building’s layout retaining many original interior details. Elsewhere within the building, a spa and several themed bars and restaurants will also be installed.
A new pavilion in the central courtyard will provide access to a further bar and event space, with its proposed glass prism structure creating an entrance with a grand sweeping staircase descending into the subterranean space. Clad in semi-reflective glass, during the day it will reflect the surrounding architecture and blend into the background, whilst at night, it will be illuminated from within.
The project is currently in the planning stage, with renovations and construction work due to start on site later in 2017.
