ABSTRACT
The University is embarking upon the largest construction project in its history, the Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD). Containing teaching space, laboratories, workshops, offices and social areas, it is intended as the epicentre of engineering at Manchester where undergraduates, researchers and faculty from the various schools and institutes will cross paths. The functional but unaesthetic Manchester Business School and James Chadwick Building, dating from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries respectively, make for very modest first impressions on the pivotal south and east plots of the MECD. Their retention means that MEC Hall is wedged into the centre of the site, diminishing its potential for a strong relationship with the cityscape. While the extent of these shortcomings on the scheme cannot be justly appraised until the MECD's completion in 2020, they demonstrate the challenging nature of large-scale campus expansions within urban environments.
