The doors at Urbis closed on Saturday 27th February to become the National Football Museum in 2011. The Urbis Research Forum still has the mission to encourage dialogue about the past, present and future of Greater Manchester and cities in general. It found a new home across the city at the University of Manchester's North Campus. A location described by visitmanchester.com as 'a sixties utopia, complete with bowling green'. WA Gibbon's trademark of white concrete on the Renold Building (1962) is a key landmark on Sackville Street and a five minute walk from Piccadilly station.
The doors opened at the Urbis Research Forum in the Renold Building on 25th May 2010 with a lively, well-attended session on 'Failed Icons'. Three very diverse iconic projects were presented. Jonathan Schofield spoke about the lost opportunities of Castlefield. The unparalleled Roman and industrial heritage of Manchester which had held out the promise of becoming a World Heritage Centre but was now quite run-down and neglected. Jonathan described new plans for improving the green areas and the tantalising prospects of local restaurants being able to use herbs grown in Castlefield.
Prof Michael Hebbert discussed the various waves of plans for development of the Oxford Road corridor. The legacy of which can be clearly seen on a walk down Oxford Road. Various views and maps of the area were shown including a sixties view when the Renold Building was still new. A key observation of the talk was the difficulties of cyclists and pedestrians in navigating Oxford Road, the proposed walkways remaining on the drawing boards of the planners.
The final talk by George Mills started with his shock as a student to return home from University to discover a large area of the city centre was now covered and 'locked up' at night. While George studied, the Arndale Centre was being born. The opportunity came in 1992 to bid for the reconstruction of the Arndale after the Manchester bomb. George's firm had a radical proposal to break it up into separate buildings and reinstate the streets through. We all got an opportunity to share in the vision and wonder what might have been...
A surprising common factor in the talks was street signs. One points the way to 'Granada Studio Tours' in Castlefield, 10 years after its closure. Street signs on Oxford road are of the size appropriate to motorways, even when attached listed buildings. And where else would you find an unmarked pedestrian crossing on a sliproad from a motorway!
The evening left us musing on 'success' and 'failure' for these projects and how they were defined. The Arndale is a commercial success but fails to integrate the city around it. There were many comments from audience members who enjoyed Castlefield, despite the apparant neglect. It was agreed that cycling up Oxford Road was an exhilarating experience, dodging buses and cars and having a sense of achievement on surviving the journey!
