The Hive, Stevenson Square Manchester, Northern Quarter Building, 5plus, England

The Hive, Stevenson Square Manchester

Northern Quarter Grade AOffice Building, northwest England, UK – by 5plus Architects

18 May 2011

The Hive Manchester – Award

Design: 5plus Architects

Address: 51 Lever St, Manchester M1 1FN

Phone: 0161 236 4867

photos : Andy Marshall

The Hive, Manchester – designed by 5plus Architects – wins BCO Award

Last night The Hive on Lever Street in Manchester’s thriving Northern Quarter won the British Council for Offices (BCO) best commercial workplace award for the northern region.

This Northern Quarter office building was completed last year and was designed by Jon Matthews, Carly Grice and John Crellin of Manchester based 5plus Architects. Developed in partnership between by Argent and Manchester City Council, the 80,000 sq ft building is the only Grade A office space in the Northern Quarter. The building also benefits from a natural ventilation system which ensures it is one of the greenest and most cost effective buildings in the city.

photographs : Andy Marshall

John Crellin, project architect at 5plus Architects, said: “Winning this prestigious award is a fantastic accolade to 5plus and is testament to our holistic approach to modern workplace design. As the project architect, I am immensely proud of The Hive which has innovation, sustainability and simplicity at its core. Working with Argent has also been a hugely rewarding experience – a visionary client delivering something new to the Manchester market.”

Oliver Butler, Argent said: “Argent is thrilled that the Hive has received this important award and it is a testament to the hard work of everyone involved in the design, build and management of the building.”

The BCO aims to define excellence in office space and its annual awards programme provides recognition for top quality in design and functionality, and is a benchmark for excellence in workplaces. The Hive has won the award for the northern region which includes the North of England, North Wales and Northern Ireland. The building will now be entered for the national awards which will be announced in October 2011.

Previously:

15 Oct 2007

The Hive Manchester

HKR Architects: The Hive, Stevenson Square, Manchester

Lever Street view

Scheme Description

£11.5 million, 110,000 sq ft sustainable office building for Argent Group plc in the Northern Quarter.

Through HKR’s technical understanding of structures and services it has been able to co-ordinate the delivery of Grade A offices in a naturally ventilated building with a 3,375mm floor-to-floor height minimising the building volume and maximising the developer’s profit.

Arcade image

Aimed at a new office market which is demanding more from its workspace – with respect to its environmental conscience, flexibility of tenancy, ability to personalise space without compromising on a city centre location – the proposed scheme forms part of a wider masterplan produced by HKR in early 2006 for two key sites adjacent to Stevenson Square. The design is sympathetic to the rich and varied buildings – many of them listed – and creative networks in the bohemian district of the city. The building successfully resolves the conflict between natural ventilation and sub-divisible speculative office space – a first for Manchester.

Contractor: Bardsley Construction

Completion: 2008

The Hive Manchester images / information from HKR Architects 151007

The Hive Manchester design : HKR Architects

Location: Stevenson Square, 51 Lever St, Manchester, M1 1FN, Northwest England, UK