New Century Hall to house venue and college

The building, at the heart of the 20-acre Noma estate in central Manchester, will house an 800+ capacity music and events space, a creative college and a food court of independent traders.

Recently refurbished by contractor Russell WBHO to designs by Sheppard Robson, the new facilities are set to open at the grade two-listed building in summer 2022.

Manchester-based Sheila Bird Studios has been appointed to develop the branding and interiors for the building.

The announcement heralds a second act in New Century Hall’s role in the city’s pop culture story, having hosted acts including Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Bee Gees and Tina Turner previously.

The ground floor will house the 8,000 sq ft New Century Kitchen, playing host to five independent food operators alongside more permanent pizza and coffee concepts.

It is interned that New Century Kitchen will “spill outside” onto Sadler’s Yard for al fresco dining, drinking and regular events.

The basement at New Century will be home to education provider Access Creative College. An established national college, counting Ed Sheeran as one of its alumni and patron roster, ACC specialises in opening up careers in the creative industry.

With a successful music, games, media and computing college already in Manchester on Oxford Road and Hulme Street, New Century will be home to the college’s third site in the city with degree-level courses in music, games and computing delivered by DBS Institute. The campus will include a media centre, production pods and the opportunity to experience work in a live venue within the same building.

Sheppard Robson has overseen the revamp of the building. Credit: via Blackstock

New Century Hall is the latest development to complete at Noma, with construction currently underway on 200,000 sq ft of offices at 4 Angel Square.

Along with a range of residential buildings, Noma will provide 2.5m sq ft of office space across new-builds and its existing estate, much of which is listed.

The listed estate includes Dantzic, where property consultancy IBI has this year signed for a 6,600 sq ft floor, Redfern, now occupied by the Ministry of Justice, and Hanover, home to Amazon, WeWork and Deloitte.

Stephen Bradley, director of investment management at Federated Hermes, said: “The blend of uses planned at New Century Hall will see the building emerge as a destination in its own right and a key driver of footfall and activity within the NOMA neighbourhood.

“We worked closely with the new occupiers on the redesign to deliver revamped New Century Hall that worked well with their requirements, while ensuring the building’s heritage was still protected.”

Colliers and JLL are the retained office agents for the space, while Lyons Thompson Letts and Colliers are retained retail and leisure agents.

Peter Gallagher, NOMA’s letting agent at Colliers, expressed his enthusiasm for the building

“It has taken four years of patient teamwork and, from all those involved, a creative imagination in hyper-drive to curate a deal at New Century Hall that completely reanimates a much-loved local icon,” Gallagher said.

“New Century Hall now works for everyone and will immediately become a new ‘heart of place’ at NOMA, bringing an exciting new dimension to Sadlers Yard and the wider office workspace estate that should help attract occupiers wanting to base themselves somewhere that is truly unique, exciting and full of activity.”