Manchester’s neo-gothic architectural masterpiece, the Town Hall, has had its beauty masked for several years now as it undergoes a major renovation.
For years, passersby have only been met by towers of scaffolding, sheets of white canvass, and signs promising a glamorous new Albert Square. Now, however, as more the square is revealed, the Manchester Evening News has been given special access to climb the scaffolding — and reveal what’s behind the curtain, so to speak.
Inside the vast structure, which is made up of 4,000 tonnes of scaffolding, a ‘tent’ has been erected around the Grade-I listed building to allow work to continue. It therefore means there are impressive views overlooking the city, and looking within the building site, too.
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On Thursday, February 9, a handful of journalists were invited to don full-PPE clothing and climb inside the hoist. Our first stop was roughly two-thirds of the way up the building.
The views across Manchester and Salford were breathtaking. The city’s new glass temples to generation-rent gleamed, and its modernist monoliths took on a softer appearance in the winter’s sun.
But more interesting was through a small door, and along a gangway. Inside, it felt like our party of a dozen had stepped into the film set of Hogwarts. Every gargoyle, spire, and stained glass window looked as if it had been carefully positioned for the most dramatic cinematic effect.
Of course, they have been carefully positioned by Alfred Waterhouse, but they take on a new feeling inside the white tent, which weighs 300 tonnes itself. It was built in sections on Albert Square before being lifted into place.
There’s a network of stairs, which we’re told would be enough to climb the height of the Empire State Building. The gang ways around the side of the Victorian structure are not perilous, even as we walk on the roof of the hall.
The scaffolding has been assembled by Lyndon SGB, who have employed a range of young apprentices to help with the work. One of those is Mitchell Smith, 25.
“I’m a part two now,” he explains. “I’d work with ‘little’ Will with me and between the two of us we would get the gear and help him out until he is ready to do that [alone].
“Apprentices will help and learn at the same time. Here, we learn the right way. Nothing is weird. It’s the best place to learn.”
Mitch, from Collyhurst, says that’s because there’s a huge variety of scaffolding here. “I have done a mixture of things,” Will Shawcross, 24, adds. “If you’ve not done something before it takes practice. I would say it’s more difficult but as an apprentice we are never thrown in at the deep end.”
Will, from Blackley, is taking his final assessment in July to move up a level. Like him, Mark Davies is also on the brink of becoming a ‘part two’.
“Adaptions is a specialty, so it lifting heavy stuff,” he jokes. “I have had a go at everything. We have had a fair go with everything.”
The trio are speaking as part of National Apprentice Week, and with work set to continue at the Town Hall until next year at least — so they will still be busy, and still working inside the giant tent that has views across Manchester.
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