The Factory Development, Manchester

Factory International - Aviva Studios, Manchester

These new arts and cultural venues are now the home of Factory international, known as Aviva Studios, located in the centre of St John’s, which is a 13-acre regeneration project around the old Granada TV studios in Manchester. This prestige project’s architect was Ellen van Loon, partner in OMA (Office of Modern Architecture), who designed the buildings to create an eclectic environment, including striking and complex architectural facades, using industrial styled cladding with corrugated metal panels and exposed concrete surfaces. Structural Engineering was by Burro Happold

Structural movement joints in the walls and floors therefore had to be designed to accommodate not only significant movement (+/-50% or more), whilst maintaining watertightness, but also to be CE certified fire resistant for at least 2 hours, plus to maintain the high requirements for acoustic soundproofing and thermal insulation in the facades.

Emshield-DFR/WFR-2 from NCC Movement joints Limited was the ideal solution, installed as a complete system to meet all these specified requirements in a single solution, which could be installed quickly and easily, with no mechanical fixings, and without disrupting other trades. The Emshield systems were installed by TECL (Thermal Engineering Contracts Ltd) as the acoustic and firestopping specialists on the project, as well as by the Façade specialists Lindner Prater.

“The 13,350 m² building has been designed to provide open spaces that are flexible, adaptable, and capable of being reconfigured for a wide variety of shows at different scales. The key facilities are The Hall, an auditorium that seats 1,600 but can accommodate 2,000 standing; and The Warehouse, an open performance space 21 metres high, with capacity for 5,000 people, all designed and built with advanced acoustic-insulation. They can function separately or together, with a stage that can stretch back to a depth of 45 meters.”

Factory International are named after the Factory Records record-label, which was founded by the late Tony Wilson ran Manchester’s Haçienda nightclub in the 1980’s and launched bands such as the Happy Mondays and Joy Division. Their new home at Aviva Studio complex is the first public project by OMA in the United Kingdom, and already regarded as the most ambitious cultural development for the future in Manchester.