Redevelopment of Granada TV studios underway

Once the home of Granada Television (later ITV Granada), Manchester’s famous TV studios are being redeveloped into a new mixed-use scheme and steelwork is nearing completion on one of the first new office blocks.

Working on behalf of Bowmer + Kirkland, EvadX is erecting 550t of steel for a 10-storey commercial block on the site of the former annex building, which used to accommodate dressing rooms and the make-up department.

The steel-framed structure measures 50m-long x 11m-wide, and it will accommodate around 6,000m² of office space, along with retail units at ground and lower ground floor.

Creating the desired column-free and flexible office spaces, a series of Westok cellular beams span between the building’s perimeter columns, forming each of the floors without any internal support.

Curtins Senior Engineer Rosie Boroujerdi said: “There are a number of site constraints that needed to be managed as part of the build to deliver the architectural aspirations of the design. 

“Steel provides the design flexibility to manage these in an economic way when compared to other forms of construction. It also allows the structural design to respond to the client’s aspiration for open-plan office spaces.”

The office block is due to complete in October.