Hallo und willkommen! Erm, it's raining! Manchester is on the other side,
Salford is on this side. And in this update of AidanEyewitness we're going to
take a look at the new Factory International project, which I've documented from close to
here in the past and now it's (almost) completed and now it's the last weekend
of the Manchester International Festival. But first, we're going to go and take a look at
some new apartments, they're called Middlewood Locks, very close to here on the Salford side.
A pair of seven-storey apartment buildings, looking out towards the river Irwell and
Manchester City centre, these and the buildings behind are Middlewood Locks.
We are looking across Middlewood Street and that’s East Ordsall Lane going off to the right.
Once an area of industry and then urban dereliction,
now it's a stylish and convenient place to live.
"Get chatting, get renting" say the notices "Renting made easy with no deposit."
Let’s look at a plan of the site. Middlewood Locks consists of 10 apartment buildings laid
out on five city blocks including four private gardens between the buildings at the rear.
The names of the buildings recall the earlier industrial use: Quarry, Charcoal,
Forge, Bellows, Hearth, Chalk, Clay, Potters, Anvil and Farrier.
They are all of similar design with brick style exteriors in various shades and between the front
two are buildings Quarry and Charcoal, we can see the Hilton tower and Factory International.
On the north side of Middlewood Locks is the feature that gives it its name: Middlewood
Locks the lock system that's part of this rebuilt section of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury canal.
More apartments are under construction on the other side of the basin. While on this side of
the water, they encourage you to rent, on the other side they encourage you to buy:
"Make rent regret a thing of the past" it says.
That’s the show house next to the water, it looks like a contemporary-style lock keeper's cottage.
Nice flowers, plants and trees, all open to the public here - this is public realm - and
a long pathway up by the side of the apartments to Oldfield Road.
There's a coffee shop named The Lock and a bar named Seven Brothers Beer House. They
have Open Mike and Quiz Nights. I wonder how this district would suit people with children?
Here we can see some very cool residents making their way towards the front entrance of the bar.
I wonder if they are going to take part in the open mike event. Canada geese certainly
make quite a racket on canal waters around Manchester city centre, but it's a nice racket!
Make it your own, make it "you own" Buy now, says the banner.
The northern edge of Middlewood Locks is bordered by the main railway line from
Victoria. I'd certainly enjoy sitting out on the balcony train spotting.
Looks like this GB Railfreight train is waiting for a green light.
Over beyond Factory International, we can see the Beetham Tower,
now a venerable old building, it's over 16 years since it opened.
Along Oldfield Road across the railway bridge, apartments are
under construction on the site of the Oldfield Road dwelling, depicted by L S. Lowry in 1929.
The apartments to me look functional, but with nice details in the brickwork
and use of materials. These apartments have balconies, I'm not sure if all of them do.
Let’s take a look back at some panoramic photographs
I took from this spot around 17 years ago.
In the central area, we can see the Beetham Tower, the Civil Justice Centre and many other buildings
under construction. The Granada TV building can be seen with its broadcasting tower still in place.
In front of us is a wide empty area of grass once occupied by industrial units. At that time the
present development was just an idea. It was to be delayed by the property crash of 2008.
Today, it's a fully functioning residential development, home to lots of people. It's
medium-rise, unlike the high-rise apartment buildings currently being built across Manchester.
Across Ordsall Lane East, another part of Middlewood Locks is awaiting
construction. The sign says: "189 new canalside townhouses and apartments."
"An exciting mix of commercial space including Number One Middlewood Locks"
and that’s how it’s going to look, complete with canal boats and cafes under the viaduct.
Let’s walk down now to the Inner Ring Road and cross over at the lights. In front of
us is the 1830 Irwell Bridge designed by George Stephenson. We'll take a closer look at it later.
Here we can see the final section of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal
before it meets the River Irwell. Above us is the Ordsall Chord railway bridge.
Prince's Bridge was taken down as part of the Ordsall Chord bridge construction. Now
there’s a footbridge in its place. The footbridge reaches across the Irwell,
where the road bridge once was. It's nice they've kept the name Prince's Bridge.
Let’s walk across the footbridge,
which opened on Thursday the 29th of June, that's just over 2 weeks ago. I
We'll take a quick look down into the into the waters of the Irwell.
It’s windy today but last Sunday, the water was very calm. I was passing by
here and took some footage. It looked almost like a mill pond.
Above us Ordsall Chord railway bridge, the Ring
Road is further on and Middlewood locks beyond the railway viaduct.
It’s the final weekend of the Manchester International Festival 2023. The posters say:
Food & Drink, Festival Square, Gigs and DJs. It's a groundbreaking event that takes place every two
years. I've taken part in it in past years and hope to again, I was too busy this year.
This is Festival Square, now in its new location by the river Irwell right in front of the
futuristic façade of Factory International. It was designed by Rem Koolhaas from the
Netherlands and his architectural practice Office for Metropolitan Architecture, or OMA.
It looks to me like a distribution warehouse, the front bit of which went horribly wrong due
to a program error in the design software, but they decided to keep it. I think it
looks great. It cost a huge amount of money. So did Manchester Town Hall.
Form meets function? Well yes. Its function is to be bold,
strident and a bit off its head - like the Manchester International Festival!
Inside the foyer, there’s plenty happening. Those doors lead to the
Warehouse on the left. The Warehouse is is the very large main performance space.
I love how they’ve incorporated the railway viaduct into the interior.
So, that's my first taste of the Factory and... very impressive!
Let's just take a quick look at the bridge, the George Stephenson bridge built in 1830.
The canal companies stipulated that the bridge had to be high above the river,
which caused the railway to be built on a viaduct.
This is a magnificent piece of early railway architecture in just a few years time,
it's going to be 200 years old. It used to provide access onto the rail network
for the Museum of Science and Industry. However, the construction of the new
Ordsall Chord cut across the Frade 1 listed 1830 bridge, severing the museum's rail link.
And there it is, that Transpennine Express train to and from the airport,
currently one per hour in each direction. It's heading towards northeast England
They've integrated an interesting map into the wall. I love maps. The earliest
transport route is the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, approved by Parliament in 1721.
The most recent is the Ordsall Chord completed in 2017. It struck something of a discord with
conservationists, but it’s built now, there’s no going back. Let’s hope the
adjoining railway infrastructure can finally be expanded, allowing more trains to use it.
Let’s take one final closer look at that magnificent stonework. I just love the different
colours of the stones, the shapes, the elegance of the structure with its keystone at the top
The neighbouring bridge looks quite similar. It was built in 1845,
a few years after Friedrich Engels came to Manchester and today it carries lots of trains!
Now let's go around to take a look at the Trinity Islands construction site. This is
how it looked three months ago and this is how it looked today on Saturday the 15th of July.
The concrete core is starting to climb skywards and the lower floors are beginning to appear.
Looking from the other side, from Regent Road Bridge, six months ago, construction was just
beginning. Today the first tower is taking shape and starting to look like a building.
I’ll be visiting this viewpoint at regular intervals to document the progress. Can you
visualise how it’s going to look when it’s finished? Keep watching AidanEyewitness
So that concludes this update and as we gaze back into the waters of the Irwell, please like
the video, subscribe to the channel and leave a comment - I try to reply as quickly as I can.
I’m hoping to post more frequently with this new more vlog style of video,
so vielen Dank fürs Zuschauen und auf Wiedersehen in Manchester and in Salford.