TV studios where Coronation Street was filmed to become an 鈥渆vent hotel鈥�
Architect Levitt Bernstein has been commissioned to convert Ralph Tubbs鈥� Granada Studios in Manchester into a 200-bed hotel.
The concept is for an 鈥渆vent hotel鈥� known as the Manchester Grande, which client Allied London claims is the first of its kind in the UK.
The TV studios and production spaces where Coronation Street, Brideshead Revisited and World in Action were filmed will become a series of performance venues for live entertainment.
The hotel is a key part of the city鈥檚 new St John鈥檚 development on 10 hectares between Spinningfields and Castlefield.
Within this, Ian Simpson is masterplanning the Granada Studios site and Buckley Gray Yeoman has already been appointed to refurbish a historic warehouse next to the studios.
Tubbs鈥� original interior will be stripped back to expose the original architecture and the fa莽ade will be restored.
The existing worn blue panels will be replaced with opaque, plain glass panels to match the originals.
A new secondary fa莽ade will create a double skin and form an internal winter garden for each bedroom suite.
An apartment on the ninth floor will be removed and replaced with a public bar named after Granada鈥檚 original font, Clarendon.
A couple of buildings will be removed and replaced with a glazed link between the St John鈥檚 Quarter and Great John Street and beyond to Deansgate.
A secondary pedestrian route will be formed at the rear of the existing studios in a space nicknamed the M1 in the studio鈥檚 heyday.
Covered with a translucent roof, it will link the hotel and music venues and will provide space for temporary exhibitions and more casual performances.
Gary Tidmarsh, chairman at Levitt Bernstein said the design 鈥渢aps into both the building鈥檚 significant architectural and cultural history and its role as a driver of urban revival鈥�.
He added: 鈥淕ranada Studios, in its day, was the most famous television studio after the BBC Television Centre. The creation of St John鈥檚, with the exciting concept for the Manchester Grande at its heart will preserve the studios as a key part of Manchester`s heritage and cultural destination.鈥�
No comments yet