Projects
Murrays’ Mills Regeneration
Ancoats, Manchester
Major grade 2* mills renovation in Manchester
110 new apartments
60 bed hotel
Restaurants & cafes
48,000sq.ft commercial office space
Approximate development value of £30m
For more information please also see the
The Project
Murrays Mills is the redevelopment of 3 existing grade 2* Listed mill buildings in the heart of the Ancoats area of Manchester, 1/2 mile from Piccadilly railway station. Inpartnership has achieved an outline planning permission to redevelop the existing Listed buildings which will be complemented with a new build element effectively forming a quadrangle with central courtyard and existing water basin feature.
The project is being developed by Burrell Inpartnership Ltd, a joint venture established for the purpose of the redevelopment of Listed buildings. The Burrell Company from Edinburgh has unique expertise in this area having completed numerous award-winning developments in World Heritage sites. The complex will be of mixed use purpose, both residential and commercial. It will aim to retain the original visual impact of the Mills whilst injecting renewed life and importance to the Mills.
The site occupies a single block bounded by Murray Street, Jersey Street, Bengal Street and Redhill Street within the Ancoats area of Manchester, close to Great Ancoats Street, which forms part of the inner ring road, the site sits alongside the Rochdale Canal. The site is half a mile to the east of Manchester city centre, and is one of the flagship projects being promoted by New East Manchester, the Urban Regeneration Company dedicated to and succeeding in, the regeneration of this significant tract of the city.
Ancoats Urban Village, home to Murrays' Mills, won the award for Area Based Regeneration in the Annual Waterways Renaissance Awards, organised by the British Urban Regeneration Association and The Waterways Trust. The judges described Ancoats Urban Village as "an outstanding project in an outstanding area."
History
The Murray’s Mills site consists of three multi-storey cotton mills; Old Mill, Decker Mill and New Mill, a former office/warehouse known as the Murray Street Block, two engine houses and a chimney, all grouped around and within a courtyard.
The Murrays Mills’ complex is Manchester’s oldest surviving cotton spinning mill and one of the first buildings in the world to have been purpose-built to use steam power alone. The earliest part of the Murray’s complex is Old Mill (originally known as Union Mill), which was built to a record height of eight storeys in 1798. The mill was effectively doubled in size by the addition of Decker Mill in 1801, which was erected immediately adjacent to form a continuous building. Between 1804 and 1806, three other principal buildings were added to the site, arranged in a quadrangle enclosing a central yard. The building across the north end of the courtyard – New Mill – was the largest mill in Manchester when built. The courtyard was enclosed with the construction of the Murray Street Block and its now demolished twin, the Bengal Street Block. Old, Decker and New mills were dedicated to spinning, with the other two buildings acting as warehouses and offices.
Within ten years of completion, the mills were radically re-structured to take large and more efficient spinning frames. The buildings had originally been constructed to carry light loads and efforts were regularly made to increase capacity as machinery became bigger and heavier. They remained in use for cotton spinning until the late 1950’s following which they were used for a variety of light industrial uses, most of them still related to textiles.
The site’s proximity to the Rochdale Canal is of particular note. This canal, opened in 1804, provided a stimulus to the Ancoats area by offering the easy transportation of coal and raw cotton. The central area contained a canal basin, which was linked to the Rochdale Canal via a tunnel beneath the mills. The canal was essential to the success of the mills as it was used for the transportation of raw cotton, coal and yarn, and provided a direct link to the port of Liverpool.