Windmill Green

Solution

Manchester’s Civic Quarter is a regional focal point and the heart of the city’s thriving conference and meetings area. With some of Manchester’s finest buildings nearby, including Manchester Town Hall, the Central Library, and the Midland Hotel, FORE Partnership appointed tp bennett to refurbish an underused 1970s office building at 24 Mount Street and improve this prime location.

The practice designed 24 Mount Street, now known as Windmill Green, to provide 80,000sq ft of high quality offices and to fit better into the historic streetscape. The concrete frame of the earlier building was kept, its floor area extended and two extra storeys added. A striking façade featuring teal glazed terracotta tiles and glass was designed, taking its cue from Manchester’s historic urban fabric. With a roof terrace, two semi-public storeys at street level and improvements to the public realm, the building “references the local historic fabric in a modern idiom to create a strong identity with a sense of social sustainability”, according to tp bennett’s Andrew Campbell.