As work completes on the historic Grade-II listed building formally known as Brownsfield Mill, we are proud to have supported Urban Splash’s iconic Avro development.

One of Manchester’s last untouched Victorian Mills, and home to Britain’s first aeroplane manufacturer, A.V.Roe, it’s now fittingly called ‘Avro’, and home to 31 canal side loft apartments
within the city’s Northern Quarter.

Steeped in history, Brownsfield Mill was originally built in 1825, overlooking the Rochdale canal, with its chimney now Manchester’s oldest surviving mill chimney. World War II warplanes were built
there along with artist L.S. Lowry being the building’s rent collector. With the creation of the luxury new homes, full use of industrial qualities of the original building have been preserved to bring a
historic landmark of Manchester’s city centre back to life. With the original stair tower and chimney vital to protecting the character of the building, many other original features were key to retain,
including exposed brickwork, cast iron columns, original ceilings and fittings.

Our scope of work included working alongside architects Stephenson Hamilton Risley Studio to reinstate the construction information to as close as possible to the original structure and working
with conservation and heritage officers from the local authority. Our engineers carefully assessed the condition of the building and formulated stabilisation and remedial proposals to protect the
structure and ensure its suitability for conversion to residential use. We strengthened the principal floor timbers by bolting channel sections to the sides and introduced discreet additional vertical
structure around new services risers to provide additional propping and transfer loading away from the historical cast iron frame. Foundation support for the new vertical support frames was achieved by installing new piled foundations within the constrained basement zone. Ground gas was encountered during the investigations stage, and we therefore designed and retrofitted a gas
membrane and gas venting system into the ground floor slab to ensure it was suitable for the future residential use.

With all but one of the 31 homes sold, residents at Avro enjoy access to an urban garden, so they can enjoy their own oasis within the city with 3,000 square feet of outdoor space. As the pandemic has showcased the importance of creating spaces where we enjoy living and working, the completion of Avro marks the rebirth of a historic Manchester landmark and a celebration for all of us who played our own part in bringing it back to life.