Manchester levelling up money to fund city's creative scheme
- Published
Almost £20m of levelling up funding is to be spent transforming two listed buildings into technology and creative industry spaces in Manchester.
The Culture in the City scheme will see the Upper and Lower Campfield Market sites house more than 1,000 workspaces.
Council leader Sir Richard Leese said the scheme "highlights the vital contribution cultural investment has made to the city's renaissance".
Work will start on the empty Grade II listed Upper building in March.
The Lower building is currently occupied by the Science and Industry Museum.
The Liverpool Road building, which was built to house an indoor market in 1876, opened as the council-run Air and Space Museum in 1983 before becoming part of the then North Western Museum of Science and Industry two years later.
In July, the museum announced it would be leaving the building once its lease expired.
The funding, which was announced as part of the chancellor's Budget on Wednesday, will also be used to convert three railway arches on Whitworth Street West into a creative talent development centre for the adjacent Home arts venue, providing co-working areas, a free rehearsal space and creative skills training for young people.
Sir Richard said the project would not only "preserve two historical market halls, and bring new use to some of the city's heritage railway archways, but also highlights the vital contribution cultural investment has made to the city's renaissance".
"The lasting impact of projects like these to the city's economic potential cannot be underestimated as we recover from the pandemic," he added.
Home's executive director Jon Gilchrist said the new spaces were vital as "all too often, the ambition of artists in the city isn't matched with affordable rehearsal and development space".
He said the scheme would "provide around 5,000 hours of free space for artists to develop their skills and work" annually and "animate the empty railway arches... helping connect them to the wider First Street development."
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- Published14 July 2021