Plans have been approved to create a new £110 million cultural arts venue in Manchester.

Manchester City Council granted permission for 'The Factory' development on Thursday, 12 January. Construction is scheduled to begin in spring 2017.

Designed by architects Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), developer Allied London plans to create the facility on the site of the old Granada Television studios.


The Government is providing £78m towards the cost of the scheme, which is being led by project partners Ellen van Loon and Rem Koolhaas, founder of OMA.

OMA will lead a multi-disciplinary design team including Buro Happold Structures and MEP, Arup Acoustics, Gardiner and Theobald as cost consultants and Deloitte as planning consultants.

City Council Leader Sir Richard Leese said: "Factory is what the arts world and Manchester has been waiting for. It's the key to unlocking a wealth of new cultural opportunities in the city for audiences and arts practitioners, and also to massive economic gain for Manchester and the wider region.

"Factory isn't going to just transform this unused corner of the city centre, it's going to further transform the way we see the world, and the way the world sees Manchester."

(LM/CD)