Project Overview
MGI was engaged by a private client to transform an existing ground-floor café in Manchester city centre into a comprehensive bar and restaurant operation. The project involved expanding the business to utilise all three floors of the building at 33, Oldham Street, creating a significantly enhanced hospitality offering in a prime city centre location.
Challenge
The client faced several complex requirements that needed careful navigation. The existing building was in poor repair, with original historical features concealed beneath later, substandard additions. The project’s complexity was heightened by its location within a conservation area on a prominent street that includes listed buildings. This created a delicate balance between creating a distinctive venue that would attract customers whilst ensuring the design respected and complemented the significant surrounding architecture.
Solution
MGI approached the project by developing a sensitive design strategy that would restore and reveal the building’s historical character whilst creating a modern, functional hospitality space. The solution focused on carefully removing inappropriate later additions to uncover original features, whilst designing new elements that would enhance rather than detract from the building’s heritage value and its context within the conservation area streetscape.
Implementation
The project required meticulous planning to address conservation area requirements whilst delivering a commercially viable venue across three floors. MGI coordinated the complex process of working within heritage constraints, ensuring all modifications to the façade and interior respected the building’s historical significance whilst creating the functional requirements for a successful bar and restaurant operation.
Results
The transformation successfully converted an underutilised single-floor café into a vibrant three-floor bar and restaurant, maximising the commercial potential of the city centre location. The careful restoration approach revealed the building’s original character whilst creating a distinctive venue that enhances rather than compromises the conservation area’s architectural integrity.