Gillespies submits planning applications for St. John’s neighbourhood

Plans have been submitted for the development of Manchester's new St. John's neighbourhood, the transformation of the former ITV and Granada Studios into an exciting new mixed-use neighbourhood as part of six separate detailed planning applications to upgrade the whole site.

Gillespies' designs for enhancing the public realm celebrate St. John's rich heritage by layering the public realm with texture, interest, cultural and historic reference, creating a series of new animated streets, alleyways and dynamic public spaces - courtyards, parks, sky gardens and public squares - set around the area's historic listed buildings. These spaces are located at street and higher levels, creating multi-level interest and activity.

Our role included collaborating with site masterplanners SimpsonHaugh and Partners to develop the public realm strategy, alongside Child Graddon Lewis, Levitt Bernstein and Buckley Gray Yeoman on individual site planning applications. This collaboration allowed us to think comprehensively and deliver a unified, yet diverse public realm for St. John's.

Tom Walker, Partner in Gillespies' Leeds studio and leader of the design team comments:

"This has been a terrifically stimulating project to be involved with, as we have worked with a conocopia of fantastic architects, and a site with an amazingly rich history -  from the Roman Empire to the Industiral Revolution and not forgetting The Beatles. We have responded with a multilayered laminated philosophy to the design, creating a richness and texture to the public realm and opening up these spaces to the public, creating a destination with a truly distinctive sense of space. The client team specifically wanted this antithisis to a coprorate looking carpet"

Allied London proposes to start construction work on St. John's in 2016 subject to planning approval.