Rehousing Manchester – The Carbon Conscious Collective, by Alexandra Francis and
Elle Thompson from the University of Sheffield

Rehousing Manchester – The Carbon Conscious Collective, UMIST Campus, was presented at the AT Awards live finals on 20 September 2023 to a jury comprising Simon Allford, Esther Robinson Wild, Ed Jarvis, Amin Taha, Patrick Bellew, and Chair Lee Mallett. Read about how the project has stood the test of time.

Rehousing Manchester – The Carbon Conscious Collective, by students Alexandra Francis and Elle Thompson of the University of Sheffield, proposes the creative reuse of the UMIST Campus (Manchester’s former home of innovation) into an environmentally-conscious inner-city community. The campus masterplan includes the repurposing of 1960s teaching buildings into housing co-operatives, with community functions – operated by the Carbon Conscious Collective – on the lower floors to activate the surrounding public realm.

Situated at the threshold of the campus and the city, the Renold Co-operative is the first phase of the project. The existing building at podium level is transformed into a school of practical-based learning with flexible classroom spaces. Accessible routes weave through the podium, creating visual interest and inviting the wider city into the campus. The repeating floor plates of the tower accommodate self-build homes, which utilise cassette-based construction systems to facilitate future adaptation, disassembly, and eventual material re-use.

“The project prioritises reuse of the city’s extensive underperforming building stock – only removing elements where necessary based on whole-life-carbon assessment,” explain the authors. “A traffic light (RAG) assessment of the elements guides every decision, evaluating embodied carbon against operational performance and prioritising retention of superstructure (estimated to be 17,340 tonnes of carbon). If operational losses outweigh embodied uplift, the need to upgrade is considered against potential for reuse, repurposing, or recycling.”

The project also considers how future adaptions to environmental change can be accommodated now. Integrated strategies include variable solar shading, utilising thermal mass from new-build rammed earth walls and exposed existing concrete structure, as well as renewable sources of heat and power through a combined system shared with the masterplan community.