0256 No3. Circle Square

The final piece of the Circle Square masterplan – a new build 15 storey office building on the former BBC site at the head of the Oxford Road corridor in Manchester city centre.  The project includes new public realm space; Symphony Gardens, which extends the green parkland at the heart of Circle Square with a less formal and more lush planting scheme.

 The building uses a red brick, punched-opening elevation sat on an oversized-arched base – architectural languages which reference the local Georgian and Victorian red brick buildings and adjacent railway arches.   The building sits alongside the adjacent NCP car park building, reading as a sturdy ‘brother and sister’ pair of carved red-brick buildings on Princess Street, with the pair of buildings complementing the rest of the Circle Square development, but using their own robust architectural language.

A long-format, York Handmade brick is used, with a dark red, weatherstruck mortar joint. Window frames are a metallic mid-bronze, with structural glass arched windows at ground floor level.

The building was designed speculatively for Bruntwood SciTech, and includes open-span 20,000 sqft floorplates, a large arrival space, two retail units, secure bike storage, changing and customer amenity provisions at ground and 14th floor levels, and two roof terraces with panoramic city views.

Sustainability is central to the building’s design. It is net zero carbon in operation of shared spaces, with BREEAM Excellent, NABERS 5 star and EPC A ratings. Energy efficient technologies include electric heating powered by advanced heat pumps, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, rooftop solar panels, and a smart Building Management System.

Bridge Architects were responsible for architecture, interior design and styling from concept to completion, and the design encompasses a high attention to detail from the big concept idea to the delivery of the smallest detail, with the aim being to enhance and prioritise the customer experience throughout.