The Hive

PRESS RELEASE
Monday, April 23rd 2007
CITY PLANNERS THINK THE HIVE IS THE BEES KNEES




The Manchester office of HKR Architects (HKR) has revealed its plans for Phase 1 of The Hive, Stevenson Square, an £11.5 million, 75,000 sq ft sustainable office building for Argent Group plc in the Northern Quarter, which has been granted planning permission by Manchester City Council.

Aimed at a new office market which is demanding more from its workspace – with respect to its environmental conscience, flexibility of tenancy, ability to personalise space without compromising on a city centre location – the proposed scheme forms part of a wider masterplan produced by HKR in early 2006 for two key sites adjacent to Stevenson Square. The design is sympathetic to the rich and varied buildings – many of them listed – and creative networks in the bohemian district of the city. The building successfully resolves the conflict between natural ventilation and sub-divisible speculative office space – a first for Manchester.


David Partridge, joint chief executive at Argent – himself a qualified architect – explained: “The ‘green issue’ is on everyone’s lips, with the construction and operation of buildings accounting for more than 50% of the UK’s energy use. Argent is already widely acknowledged as a pioneer in urban regeneration and is now leading the way with sustainable design and construction, starting with The Hive. HKR has exceeded expectations through its team’s technical understanding, commercial approach and considerable design talent.”

Jon Matthews, director of HKR Manchester said: “It’s no surprise that Argent appeared in the top two for two consecutive years in RIBA’s ‘top 50 clients’. It has both the vision and courage to support Manchester’s unique initiative to become Britain’s greenist city, through sustainable architecture – providing energy efficient buildings that are designed to have minimal impact on the environment, whilst satisfying the needs of the occupiers from Manchester’s creative industries which The Hive has been designed for.”

To find out more about The Hive visit www.thehivemanchester.co.uk and to participate in an online debate about sustainable living visit www.greenmodernism.blogspot.com

Issued on behalf of HKR Architects by Crush Communications
For press information and images please contact Vanessa Neal or Clare Lawrence
T: +44 (0)161 832 2700 (Manchester)
M: 07970 980011
E: vanessa@crushcommunications.co.uk
www.crushcommunications.co.uk

1. HKR Architects is a leading international architectural practice with offices in London, Dublin, Prague and Sarasota.
2. HKR’s expertise spans several sectors including urban design and re-generation, commercial, residential, retail, hotel, education, healthcare, leisure and culture.
3. HKR also has dedicated capabilities in master planning and public private partnership projects, and specialise in the design and corporate fit out of interiors for all buildings.
4. In the 18 months since HKR opened the doors of its Manchester office it has grown to a team of over 28 and a turnover in excess of £2.5million.
5. Phil Doyle and Jon Matthews are directors of HKR Manchester Limited. Formerly of Sheppard Robson where the design duo led the commercial team, and were responsible for the design of Cobbetts House on Mosley Street, which will be the headquarters of leading Manchester law firm, Cobbetts.

2 comments:

eco-aunt said...

Good news for Manchester I hope, but not wanting to sound like an old hiipie where are all the sustianable credentials? the only thing I could find out was from another blog site? If you want to market the sustainability aspects of the building to all the press, you need to let us know hat xactly makes The HIve so special, other than another office building.

Anonymous said...

You should probably also re-work the press release a bit before posting it: leave off the 'For Immediate Release' header and the 'Notes for Editors'...