Pozzoni Architecture has announced it has prepared designs that will see a full refurbishment of the main Firwood Building at Xaverian College in Manchester.

Xaverian dates back to 1862 and is an Outstanding-rated Catholic Sixth Form College located in Victoria Park, Rusholme. The campus caters for approximately 2,500 members including students and staff across eight buildings located within the leafy Manchester city centre suburb.

Since 2006, Pozzoni has worked with Xaverian's leadership team to sensitively update and adapt the estate’s original buildings, helping to ensure the College can continue delivering an exemplar further education experience while staying true to the spirit of its founders.

The latest commission sees Pozzoni deliver designs for the full refurbishment of the main Firwood Building, which previously comprised of the College’s main reception and student common room, a chapel and RE rooms, a café, catering facilities, and a learning support suite.


The redevelopment plans include relocating the kitchen and dining area in order to provide much larger and more appropriate social spaces for the pupils, with better integration into the external areas.

Pozzoni's design work, part of the refurbishment will also include restoring the Firwood Building's façade to its original form. First designed by Manchester Town Hall Architect Alfred Waterhouse, Firwood is an ornate villa that is thought to be the only surviving building of its kind in the city. Its restoration will involve working in partnership with local planners to ensure that the proposals respect, retain and enhance the existing heritage of the building.

Catherine Mulley, Director at Pozzoni and head of the practice's education team, said: "Xaverian College is an excellent custodian of its heritage buildings and continues to enhance and improve the campus environment for the benefit of its students and the local area.

"As a College that continues to thrive and grow, the challenge has been providing suitable learning spaces within a Conservation Area and without compromising on the social green spaces, so we have worked together to find imaginative solutions.

"This has often entailed carefully adapting how existing areas are used, which can be seen in the Firwood Building where we will be moving the kitchen and dining hall to create a new multi-purpose space and large open-plan dining area."