PLANS have been put forward by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) for the change of use of the much-loved former Cornerhouse site at 70 Oxford Road into a base for the MMU School of Theatre.

The fear amongst campaigners now is that the MMU's lease is a move by Network Rail and the City Council to find a temporary use for the building while attentions turn to the spectacle of HOME

Following the relocation of Cornerhouse to the new £25m HOME arts centre at First Street, Manchester City Council and MMU announced last month they had agreed terms for the university to lease the space for a number of years from the end of April 2015.

The exact lease period has yet to be confirmed by either the council or the university.

The former gallery, cinema, theatre, restaurant and bar space will be converted into rehearsal, studio and teaching space including:

- Two acting studios

- One theatre rehearsal space

- One movement studio

- One voice studio

- The conversion of cinema rooms into lecture and seminar halls

Cornerhouse has relocated to the new £25m HOME arts centreCornerhouse has relocated to the new £25m HOME arts centre

The application put forward to the City Council by architectural firm Cassidy & Ashton states at full occupancy the new facility could accommodate up to 625 people, though the number of students is more likely to be around 450.

The application also includes work to the exterior of the structure including replacement doors and windows.

Oddly, a floor plan of the fourth floor reveals a 'HOME Rehearsal Studio' - though a spokesperson for HOME has contacted Confidential to state that they can 'cast-iron assure us that HOME productions are not returning to Cornerhouse'.

See MMU's full plans for the Cornerhouse here.

.HOME rehearsal studio?
 

In August 2014 a partnership between the City Council and Network Rail invited developers to submit proposals for the wider Oxford Road Station site. This created a storm of protest that the Cornerhouse building would be torn down to make way for a 500,000 sq ft office, hotel and leisure complex. The proposals also envisaged the destruction of the atmospheric cobbled area close to the attractively tiled Salisbury pub at the rear of the Cornerhouse.

Around the same time the City Council released a statement which read:

"Network Rail and Manchester City Council have begun a process to appoint a developer to assist in the potential delivery of a major, new regeneration scheme for the site, which includes the Cornerhouse buildings, and which could complement the improvements to the railway being delivered through the Northern Hub.

"The timescale for this process is that the partners are hoping to select a preferred developer by early 2016, with development anticipated to take place over the following five years."

Cynics among city centre observers are wondering whether MMU's lease is intended to put distance between the building's former use as the much loved Cornerhouse and future demolition and development. Surely this couldn't be the case, could it?

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