The Factory (Manchester)

Background

Initially the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced that the venue would cost £78 million, subsequently the council stated that they had managed to secure a further £32 million from "a variety of sources" but added that no public money would be used. The council said that the venue would "play an integral part in helping Manchester and the north of England provide a genuine cultural counterbalance to London". The government confirmed the £78 million towards the £110 million in November 2015. They also announced that, from 1 April 2018, they will provide Arts Council England (ACE) with an additional £9 million per annum to offer revenue support to Factory.

In July 2016, the council gave further details about the sources of the £110 million capital cost of the building:

Overview

The entire space will cover 13,500 square metres and will be flexible enough to accommodate combined audiences of up to 7,000, although it is envisaged that it will operate mainly as a 1,600 seat theatre space plus a 5,000 capacity flexible performance space (the warehouse). The scheme also includes the restoration and reuse of the northern brick arched portion of the Grade II-listed Colonnaded Railway Viaduct and a public realm to the north and west of the Factory building.

Plans for the Factory will also align with the adjacent Museum of Science and Industry, which "will become part of the creative public realm, with MSI's creative science ... balancing the creative and cultural production of Factory." The MSI plan to build a new £6 million Special Exhibition Gallery alongside the Factory; the new gallery is set to be complete by 2018.

Project board structure

In the summer of 2015, it was announced that the design and development process would be overseen by a Project Board set up by Manchester City Council with Maria Balshaw appointed the Single Responsible Owner for the project. Funding and project monitoring is the responsibility of ACE, who have agreed to second Simon Mellor, ACE's Executive Director, Arts and Culture, for up to two days a week (to be based in the Manchester project office in Manchester Town Hall). His role will be to support the further development of the business case and to work up the technical brief for the design team. Mellor was previously a General Director at MIF. Other contacts for the project include: Joanne Roney (the council's Chief Executive), Dave Carty (development manager of the council's City Centre Regeneration) and Pat Bartoli (head of the council's City Centre Regeneration Team).

In June 2016, it was announced that the chief operating officer for BBC England, Jenny Baxter, was to become project director of The Factory from autumn 2016, at a salary of £140,000 to be paid by Manchester City Council.

Manchester City Council granted planning permission for the building in January 2017, announcing at the same time that Manchester International Festival will operate the centre, with Mark Ball, the current artistic director of the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT), joining MIF in June 2017 as Associate Artistic Director to oversee the creation of The Factory.

Design team appointments

The £9.5m design contracts were put out to tender in July 2015. The design team are being procured through the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) procurement process via seven lots, each with an estimated duration of 45 months (3 years, 9 months i.e. the summer of 2019) from the award of the contract in mid-November 2015:

Lot 1: Architectural Services: Lead design consultant, preparation and brief, concept design, development design, technical design, provide construction production information, handover and close out. Estimated cost £4 million.

Lot 2: Theatre Consultant Services: Provide theatre consultant design services from feasibility and design options, developed design, technical design including auditorium, rehearsal rooms, hall design and other spaces relating to producing and performance, construction production information, handover and close out. Estimated cost £1.2 million.

Lot 3: Structural & Civil Engineer Services: Provide structural and civil engineering design services to produce the structural design, including that relating to the production of 3-D special co-ordination and clash detection between the structural and other design elements from pre-construction, construction and handover and close out. Estimated cost £1.25 million.

Lot 4: Building Services Engineer Services: Responsible for ensuring that all aspects of the mechanical and electrical design are fully co-ordinated including the production of 3-D clash detection between the mechanical and electrical services and any other design elements from pre-construction, construction and handover and close out. Estimated cost £1.25 million.

Lot 5: Cost Consultant and Employer's Agent Services: Responsible for cost management services including concept design, options appraisals, developed design, technical design, contract pricing, change management, cost control during construction, signing monthly valuations as client representative and final account settlement. Estimated cost £1.3 million.

Lot 6: Fire Engineer Services: Provide fire engineer services developing the fire strategy from pre-construction, construction and handover and close out. Estimated cost £100,000.

Lot 7: Acoustic Engineer Services: Provide acoustic engineering services developing the acoustic strategy from pre-construction, construction and handover and close out. Estimated cost £420,000.

Architectural design team

On 23 September 2015, the Architects' Journal announced the shortlisted design teams, however the former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Angela Brady, was amongst a number of architects who expressed their concern that there are no architects amongst the jury that would name the successful bidding firm. The jury comprised: Richard Leese, (leader of Manchester City Council), Tom Bloxham, (chairman of the festival and Urban Splash), and Michael Ingall, (chief executive of Allied London). The jury were assisted by a technical panel: Maria Balshaw, (director of the Whitworth, University of Manchester and Manchester City Galleries - comprising Manchester Art Gallery and Gallery of Costume), Pat Bartoli, (head of the council's City Centre Regeneration Team), John McGrath, (artistic director and chief executive of the festival), Greg Attwood, (development director at Allied London), and Dave Carty, (development manager of the council's City Centre Regeneration).

Out of the 48 architectural firms who expressed an interest, the following nine were invited to go forward by the council:

Rafael Viñoly Architects · Diller Scofidio + Renfro · Bennetts Associates · Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) · Zaha Hadid Architects · SimpsonHaugh and Partners · Grimshaw Architects · Mecanoo International · Haworth Tompkins Limited

The successful company chosen by the council was Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) with its lead designer Rem Koolhaas.

Timescale

The timeframe established by the Project Board contained the following key milestones:^{Note 1}

July 2015 - issue of the contract for design services

Mid-November 2015 - design team appointments (see above)

August 2016 - planning application submission

February 2017 to September 2019 - construction

August 2019 to November 2019 - commissioning of facilities and test events

Beginning of 2020 - opening ceremony^{Note 2}

When the procurement process was completed, a detailed design and delivery strategy as well as a detailed business case was presented to Manchester City Council's Executive Committee.

The planning application was submitted to the council in November 2016, and approved in January 2017. The venue will open at the beginning of 2020.

Training and employment

It is intended that the Factory should deliver a skills, engagement and training programme that is divided into two elements:

It is also anticipated that the venue will have 125 permanent staff plus 15 apprentices. Funding will come from the Factory Trust which is due to be established for the purposes of fundraising.