Centenary Building

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Centenary Building
General information
Town or city	Salford, Greater Manchester
Country	England
Construction started	June 1994
Completed	December 1995
Cost	£3.2m
Client	University of Salford
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Stephen Hodder
Structural engineer	AMEC

The Centenary Building is a building at the University of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. It was designed by the architect Stephen Hodder, completed in December 1995 and opened in 1996.

The building won the RIBA Award and inaugural Stirling Prize in 1996,^[1] and the Civic Trust Award in 1998.^[2]

It was revealed in November 2024 that the building is to be demolished as part of the major redevelopment of the Adelphi Village area despite opposition by the original architect.^[3][4]

The site is situated on the edge of the city of Manchester and lies within the campus of the University of Salford.

The brief specified a building which was a "fusion of design and technology" to house the Spatial, Graphic and Industrial Design Department of the university.^[5]

Hodder had 11 weeks to finish the design stage and begin development on site in order to ensure the European Union grant was eligible^[6] and it was built for less than £4 million.^[7]

The building consists of two separate glazed structures set as a frame to an informal galleried atrium.

The service towers, studio and seminar accommodation are housed within a four-storey orthogonal block on the "City side" of the development.

The connection between the two blocks is a raised street within which all horizontal circulation is contained in galleries.^[3]

Working details of the escape stair are enclosed in glass block screen. Other materials include stainless steel cladding and concrete.

Accommodation includes seminar rooms, video-editing suites, and lecture halls.^[8]

In its rationale for the decision to demolish the building, the university has said the "ageing infrastructure means it no longer meets modern standards and requirements." The design, which features the visible movement of people and had a lack of sound insulation, made it noisy with the sound of feet on the metal staircases reverberating around the building.^[7]

There was no air conditioning installed, as the natural ventilation system and underfloor heating were hallmarks of its environmentally-friendly construction. However, this led to staff complaints of it being too cold in winter and too hot in the summer.^[7]

Some rooms have no external windows, relying instead on borrowed light from the central atrium. Outside of rooms, all spaces are designed for transit and thus there are no informal 'social' areas for people to gather and talk. On a more mundane level, there are no kitchen areas and the only taps delivering drinking water are situated in the toilets. None of the toilets have external windows^{[citation needed]}.

There have been efforts by the charity The Twentieth Century Society to preserve the building.^[9]

• Hodder and Partners, Centenary Building, Salford

53°29′11″N 2°15′48″W / 53.4864°N 2.2633°W / 53.4864; -2.2633