IN MAY we published an article about the proposed demolition of Century House in St Peter's Square. This touched a nerve.
Subsequently various agencies, organisations and residents have come together with a Save Century House campaign.
This is their press release about their heritage activism. All the words that follow are those of the campaign's.
Mosley Street Ventures and Ian Simpson Architects are proposing to develop the site between St Peter’s Square and Princess Street with a 12 storey office block. Their proposal goes to the Planning Committee this Thursday 27 June. It involves demolishing Century House which was built in the same year as Central Library opposite.
Strong objections have already been made by the Manchester Conservation Areas and Historic Buildings Panel, the Twentieth Century Society, 21 individuals and a group of 50 objectors running the ‘Save Century House’ campaign.
The campaigners have put forward alternative proposals to retain Century House or at least its façade
Campaigner Ian Christie, said: “Century House isn’t a listed building but the idea that only listed buildings should be kept is ludicrous. Unlisted buildings can still be very good or good. They can have character and townscape value, can define space well or be a significant part of our history. Century House is all of these things. It also has a civic gravitas appropriate to this Civic Quarter. To demolish it when there’s no compelling reason to do so is sheer architectural vandalism."
The campaigners are not against redeveloping this key city centre site. They’ve put forward alternative proposals to retain Century House or at least its façade and to replace the 3 three nondescript 1960s buildings between it and the listed building at the Princess Street corner with a new building. And if that doesn’t create enough floor space for the developer, this new building could be a podium for a taller building rising behind it.
Campaigner Ann Webb said: “Century House is a prominent building in St Peter's Square. It was built in the 1930s for the Friends Provident (a Quaker Friendly Society offering life insurance). It’s a fine solid building made of Portland stone. It would be so sad to see it demolished and replaced by the sort of unremarkable building you can see in any one of our cities. Manchester needs this building”
Campaigner Ali McGowan said: “We’re calling on the Planning Committee to defer making a decision until they’ve made a site visit. We’re also asking them to ask Council Officers or the developers to drawn up plans and images of our alternative proposals so they can then make a considered decision between two alternative ways of redeveloping the site”.
