All About Manchester

Building the original modern city

Manchester has a proud heritage as the world's first industrial city, the birthplace of the modern world, but does it have what it takes to re-emerge as a global city to watch or has it run out of steam? Property and regeneration guru Tom Bloxham tells Evie Lucas he is doing his bit.

Tom Bloxham seems to be in a perpetual good mood and today is no exception. He smiles, shows off his striking new office table and makes cheerful small talk, seemingly oblivious of the depressingly awful weather outside.

It would be difficult to come up with a personal question that has not been asked and answered a thousand times by the man behind Urban Splash, so it is a relief to both myself and, I suspect, Bloxham to talk about something else for a change.

"Were you on the panel that appointed Peter Saville to work on the branding for Manchester," I cut straight to the chase, knowing he will soon be stealing glances at his watch.

"Yes, I actually chaired the panel," he answers. "And what really struck me about Peter was his emphasis on getting the product right first. He said 10 or 15 years ago most products that were really well packaged were good products. But now, in the last ten years, everyone's cottoned on to using good graphics and you get all sorts of fairly mediocre products disguised in very smart packaging."

Tom Bloxham has been a key player in the regeneration of Manchester.

Saville came up with a brand vision for Manchester centred around two words, 'Original Modern', which was met with universal approval. However, he has resisted pressure from the local media to use it as a slogan for the city and has concentrated instead on helping Manchester live up to its potential by supporting projects that epitomise originality and modernity, including the groundbreaking Manchester International Festival.

But what's wrong with using 'Original Modern' as a slogan? We all seem to like it. Is Manchester being uncharacteristically modest or is it conceding that it is not worthy of the strapline?

A moment of uncomfortable silence. Then a typical, honest reply from Bloxham: "Original Modern is not a description of Manchester as of yet - it's more where we want to get to and what we want to be about.

"There are things about Manchester that are original modern. Take Manchester International Festival, for example - it's the first time any city has chosen to do a festival all about new work.

"But I think Manchester does not have all the answers, there are still lots of things that are wrong with Manchester. We're not saying everything in Manchester is original modern; we're saying Manchester sees itself as the original modern city. For me the test is, if you're looking at projects to support, ask yourself 'are they original modern projects?' If they are, then you should say 'yes' and if they're not, then say 'no'. Original Modern is less about words and rebranding and more about attitude."

Bloxham is widely credited with leading the regeneration of Manchester city centre by turning derelict old mills and warehouses, remnants of Manchester's industrial heritage, into stylish apartments - making city living fashionable and kick-starting Manchester's break-neck-speed evolution into a modern metropolis. Yet not all development in the city centre has been world-class and he has often been vocal in his criticism of mediocre architecture. Is there anything original modern in the city's built environment that we can take pride in?

"I think the Beetham Tower is an original modern building in that it's smart, it's very tall, it's an unusually shaped building, it's cutting edge and there's a hotel and residential units in the same building, which is unusual.

"Another building which is original modern is Manchester Town Hall. The fathers of the town hall got together and built a grander, better, bigger town hall than any other northern city as a symbol of Manchester's pride and they used Alfred Waterhouse, a really good architect, to do it.

New Islington

"The Manchester Ship Canal was an incredibly original modern thing to do. Going back 100 years apparently it cost as much to get the cotton from Manchester to Liverpool as it did from Liverpool to India. The merchants had to bring the sea to Manchester so they built the Manchester Ship Canal to make Manchester, 30 miles from the coast, an actual port - an amazing feat.

"The Civil Justice Centre is another great building. It works very rationally on plan, separating the public areas from the court areas, and looks stunning.

"Another good example is Chimney Pot Park in the Langworthy, Salford, area - an original modern interpretation of the terraced house.

"And New Islington will be an original modern suburb in Manchester in that it will be full of new architecture, a real mix of tenures, a new school, a new water park..."

A new water park? I suddenly get visions of giant water slides and shiver as I remember the gale-force winds and rain outside. He looks at me with bemused sympathy and grabs his laptop to demonstrate what he means by 'water park' (which turns out is a park with a lake in it).

On the screen pop images of New Islington, the staggeringly ambitious regeneration scheme in East Manchester that Urban Splash is currently working on. It is an intriguing showcase of architecture and landscaping, full of colour and diversity, transforming a rundown estate into a fashionable and vibrant suburb.

New Islington is clearly an example of an original modern approach to regeneration, but are there any others?

Bloxham offers a couple of examples. "The regeneration of the Northern Quarter has been very original modern - the way the city acted in trying to nurture it rather than just respond to other things. And the regeneration of the Millennium Quarter after the bomb I think was original modern. The day after the bomb the task was set up and they started working on it. In some cities they would have stood around the hole for two years trying to figure out whose fault it was and what to do about it."

As he continues tapping away on his laptop, bringing up images of truly beautiful current and future projects, showing me this and that with the excitement of a kid in a sweet shop, I remember something that Peter Saville said. Manchester still produces as many bright, innovative, intelligent, entrepreneurial people as it always has and it is up to them to make Manchester the epitome of originality and modernity again. What does Bloxham make of Saville's theory?

Chimney Pot Park

"I think Peter is right, it is about having great people in a city. Manchester is both producing great people and welcoming great people from outside, offering the climate where these people can feel comfortable and able to work. A good example would be Alex Poots, who felt that Manchester was the place to give him the creative freedom to go and do the exciting things he wanted to do with the Manchester International Festival."

So now we have a clear vision, what next? How should Manchester develop in order to live up to its own high expectations?

"The most important thing is to make sure things we do are of real high quality, quality, quality. And I think in the past there's been a feeling sometimes of all development is good and we let development happen even if it was not the best. I think we can do fantastic buildings, like the Civil Justice Centre, and there's got to be more of those.

"I think in the city centre there needs to be some more emphasis on the public space and upgrading what we've got. And although a lot has been done in the city centre, around this area there are still all sorts of issues and deprivation that need to be sorted out."

So many things to sort out, so little time. Bloxham will probably get round to them some day but not today. He casts a quick look at his watch and he has already mentally left the building. I don't ask where he's off to but judging by the smirk on his face it is somewhere nice.

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Building the original modern city

Manchester has a proud heritage as the world's first industrial city, the birthplace of the modern world, but does it have what it takes to re-emerge as a global city to watch or has it run out of steam? Property and regeneration guru Tom Bloxham tells Evie Lucas he is doing his bit.