Official Opening of Alliance Manchester Business School

The Alliance Manchester Business School officially opened on 11 June by Lord David Alliance of Manchester CBE.

BDP has remodelled the school which is the largest campus-based business and management school in the UK, bringing all of the school’s divisions and departments together under one roof, creating a centre of excellence for academic business research, while also housing state-of-the-art facilities for 3,000 students and partners.

Our design extends and refurbishes two conjoined 1970s buildings and creates an uplifting and appropriately scaled entrance which was previously lacking. From this a simple axial route overlooking three open courtyards rises steadily through the building, resolving a previously barely navigable series of corridors and stair cores. The route culminates at the showpiece of the school, a palatial new study hall and library with a three storey window with fantastic views over Oxford Road.

The glazed elevations to east and west mirror each other with eye-catching multi-coloured vertical glass fins which provide solar control to reduce heat gain. These colours harmonise with the red brickwork of the existing buildings, but subtly merge with the school’s brand colours. The north and south elevations retain the original composition of red brick and dark grey.

Project director Gary Wilde says: “The transformation of the building not only rejuvenates the Oxford Road Corridor but provides the university with facilities to match its international reputation.”

BDP was architect, landscape architect and acoustic consultant for the 37,000 sqm building which opened to students in December 2018. The project recently won a Design Excellence Award at the North West Insider Property Awards.