Winning design picked for Gateway House revamp

Manchester-based architects practice Hodder + Partners has won the competition for the redevelopment of Gateway House and Station Approach adjacent to Piccadilly Station in Manchester, owned by Realty Estates.

This mixed-use project will involve the refurbishment and conversion of the Richard Seifert-designed building, which currently houses 50,000 sq ft of retail space and 86,500 sq ft of offices. There are also plans for a 200-bed hotel and a new 60,000 sq ft office building facing London Road.

The public realm fronting Piccadilly Station will also be given a revamp.

Hodder was on a final shortlist of two, selected last December, along with Stephan Reinke Architects. They had been whittled down from seven suggestions put to Realty Estates owner Yousef Tishbi.

The total site will now be known as No 1 London Road.

Reinke’s design envisaged much of the building being demolished where Hodder’s winning design keeps most of the original structure.

To give a little bit of back story, Richard Seifert was one of the more prolific and talented of the post-war International Modern architects. Along with Gateway House he also designed the controversial Centrepoint and the Nat West Tower in London. Gateway has a lovely sinuous design but it’s only Seifert’s second best design in the city: his best work is Hexagon Tower in Blackley.