Piccadilly Place is one of the largest urban regeneration projects to be built outside London in the last 20 years. Austin-Smith:Lord has played a key role in delivering the scheme for Argent and The Carlyle Group by first developing the masterplan and then designing the largest office building on the site, 3 Piccadilly Place. The masterplan includes high quality public realm, a hotel, four office buildings, residential accommodation and retail spaces together with over four floors of underground parking. In the role of concept designers, Austin-Smith:Lord coordinated the work of six architects and artists within the overall scheme.

Designed in 2005, 3 Piccadilly Place was the first office building in the North West of England to achieve the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.

Piccadilly Place is an area of public realm in which everyone can be proud. This stunning space is an impressive welcome to the UK’s second city for the millions of visitors that come through Piccadilly, while simultaneously offering a cool oasis of calm in the centre of it all. The red clay paver is reminiscent of many of Manchester’s historic mills and Victorian municipal buildings and forges an important link between the contemporary piazza and the city around it.

Clive Bartlam – Project Director, Argent