The well-worn story of Factory Records and the “Madchester” music scene of the 1980s and 1990s remains central to its global image, but it was the post-bomb masterplan led by Sir Howard Bernstein and Sir Richard Leese that set Manchester on a path towards civic renewal. Nick Berry, a director of Salford-based OMI, recalls how those years “opened the door to residential projects in the city”, reshaping what had previously been a commercial core into a place where people once again lived at scale.

Today, a new generation of leaders, including council leader Bev Craig and chief executive Tom Stannard, are steering the next chapter, under the wider political umbrella of Andy Burnham’s combined authority. For architects such as Phil Doyle of 5plus, the real step-change has come more recently. 

“Manchester always talked a good game, but I don’t think the architecture reflected that,” he says. “In the last 10 to 12 years, the city has really upped its game.”

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