Manchester Metropolitan University Library building image, All Saints on Oxford Road facility architect news
Manchester Metropolitan University Library
11 May 2026
Manchester Metropolitan’s new future-focused library given planning permission
Planning permission also granted for new Campus Hub as part of University’s wider estate investment
Location: All Saints, Oxford Road, Manchester, northwest England, United Kingdom
Design: Hawkins\Brown with Schmidt Hammer Lassen
images courtesy of architects practice
Planning permission has been granted for Manchester Metropolitan University’s new library, which is set to become a bold and future-focused space at the heart of the University’s campus.
Manchester City Council approved the project on Friday, May 8, which will see the current library at All Saints on Oxford Road replaced with a purpose-built, digitally enabled facility designed to support study, research, and collaboration.
The new design will create a transformed library experience, offering new digital engagement opportunities within flexible, light-filled spaces.
The plans also aim to enhance the surrounding public realm by introducing new publicly accessible landscaped spaces, improved pedestrian routes, and welcoming social areas, to create a more vibrant and accessible environment for students, colleagues, and the wider community.
Andrew Fallon, Chief Property Officer at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “The approval of plans for our new library marks a significant milestone. The library will be a landmark development, reflecting our commitment to outstanding education, world-class research, and a more connected, vibrant campus experience for all.
“It marks the beginning of an inspiring new chapter in realising our University’s ambition and the future of our estates masterplan – bringing our vision to life in ways that will shape generations to come.”
In addition, planning permission has been granted for the redevelopment of the western end of the former All Saints Library, marking another step forward in the wider estate’s development programme. The project will transform the space into a hub for student support, teaching and collaboration.
The new Campus Hub will create a clear and welcoming front door to the University, bringing student facing services together in one vibrant, central location. Designed to make access to support simpler and more intuitive, it will offer joined up, digitally enabled help across wellbeing, academic success, finance and more.
As a highly visible and accessible space, the Hub will benefit students, staff and the wider community, while transforming the existing building to deliver a high quality, flexible environment that meets the evolving needs of our students.
Chris Seviour, partner at Hawkins\Brown architects said: “By retaining and refurbishing All Saints West, we save carbon and character, reimagining it as a Campus Hub while setting the stage for a future library, shaped by diverse settings, including space to study ‘alone together’ and a dramatic double-height reading room. The pearlescent cladding and rippled stainless steel of the buildings are designed to reflect life on the campus and Manchester’s ever-changing skies.”
The new Library supports the University’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions from fuel and energy, helping to deliver a net zero campus by 2038. Sustainability is also central to the Campus Hub design, with the retention and upgrade of the existing structure reducing environmental impact while creating a modern, accessible and energy efficient space for the future.
The regeneration around All Saints is part of the University’s large-scale investment across its estate to deliver a safe, accessible, and connected civic campus. This includes new developments and facilities; refurbishments; conserving heritage assets; improving the public realm and landscaped spaces; which supports sustainability commitments, and providing high-quality, affordable student accommodation.
Works at the site of the former All Saints Library have now begun, and demolition is expected to be completed in late Summer 2026.
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Previously on e-architect:
5 November 2023
Location: All Saints, Oxford Rd, Manchester M15, north west England, UK
Design: Hawkins\Brown + Schmidt Hammer Lassen
Impressive new library plans unveiled by Manchester Metropolitan University.
Planning application submitted for city centre development.
Plans to develop an impressive new campus library in the heart of the city have been unveiled by Manchester Metropolitan University.
image courtesy of Hawkins Brown
Manchester Metropolitan University Library Building Design
Proposals for the landmark development would see the current library at All Saints on Oxford Road replaced with a modern and dynamic learning environment that places students and their learning at its core.
The University has submitted a planning application for the visionary library which will help Manchester to retain its status as a choice destination for students.
The project will create a library fit for the 21st century and is a central part of the University’s strategy to deliver excellent education for its students, and research that makes a difference to the community and world.
The iconic new building would feature digitally enabled teaching and research facilities to enhance students’ data science and analytical skills, flexible break-out spaces to support collaboration and nurture ideas, and a new home for the Manchester Poetry Library, the North West’s first public poetry library. It will also house a new gallery and event spaces designed for both public and University use.
image courtesy of Hawkins Brown
Professor Karen Moore, Chief Operating Officer at Manchester Met, said: “As an ambitious University, we are committed to providing a truly modern campus here in the city centre for our students, colleagues and the community.
image courtesy of Hawkins Brown
“The library plans demonstrate our continued commitment to invest in impactful research and outstanding education, adding to the exceptional facilities and extensive redevelopment that has taken place across our campus over recent years. The new library will reimagine what a university library can offer and will build on Manchester Metropolitan University’s rich 200-year history of education and research.”
Rachel Beckett, Director of Library and Cultural Services at Manchester Met, added: “Our new library will be welcoming and inclusive, fostering community and belonging. It will draw people in and stimulate the creation, discovery and sharing of knowledge, collaboration and experimentation. It’s a tremendously exciting opportunity to transform the campus experience.”
image courtesy of Hawkins Brown
Architects Hawkins\Brown and Schmidt Hammer Lassen have been commissioned to design the new ionic building and visionary space which will create a new gateway to the University.
image courtesy of Hawkins Brown
Christopher Seviour, Partner at Hawkins\Brown, said: “We were very conscious of designing a ‘living library’ where the book collection is only one of many services offered so that it gives students a reason to stay on campus and make the most out of their university experience. We have enjoyed collaborating with Schmidt Hammer Lassen to fuse the best of Mancunian and Scandinavian design sensibilities.”
Elif Tinaztepe, Principal Partner at Schmidt Hammer Lassen, added: “We reimagine the future library for Manchester Met as a dynamic landscape for making, reflecting, and innovating – a truly inclusive cultural space where students, academia and the city are invited to gather around shared interests to address the issues of the future.
image courtesy of Hawkins Brown
“We wanted the building to communicate a generosity of spirit. Spaces of different character and identity flow naturally into one another, inviting the students to explore and curate their own experience on each visit. Working with the University, exploring Manchester Met’s unique place in the wider realm of academic libraries and how this might be reflected in the design has been a truly inspiring process.”
If the planning application is approved, work will start in summer 2024 with full completion by 2028.
image courtesy of Hawkins Brown
Hawkins\Brown + schmidt hammer lassen
Hawkins\Brown
Hawkins\Brown is an architecture practice based in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Dublin and Los Angeles.
Founded more than 30 years ago and now run as an employee-owned trust, the firm brings a collaborative approach to projects across a range of types and scale in six main sectors: civic, community & culture; education; workplace; transport & infrastructure, healthcare and residential.
Hawkins\Brown is one of the UK’s leading architects in the education sector and has worked on academic and research buildings.
The English architecture practice recently completed a variety of academic buildings throughout the country, including a new Creative Arts Building for Leeds Beckett University, a Student Centre and New Square for the University of Central Lancashire, a Student Centre at Queen’s University Belfast and the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building at the University of Warwick.
image courtesy of Hawkins Brown
www.hawkinsbrown.com
(at)Hawkins_Brown
Hawkins\Brown
Schmidt Hammer Lassen
With more than 30 years of experience, Schmidt Hammer Lassen (SHL) is one of Scandinavia’s most recognised and award-winning architectural practices. Founded in 1986, SHL works out of studios located in Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Shanghai.
The practice provides urban planning, and architectural design services all over the world, with a distinguished track record as designers of international high-profile architecture. SHL has extensive global experience in the design of libraries and other public and cultural landmark buildings including the Katuaq Cultural Centre of Greenland in Nuuk (1997), the extension to the Royal Library in Copenhagen (1999), ARoS Museum of Art in Aarhus (2004), Halifax Central Library in Canada (2015), the largest public library in Scandinavia, Dokk1 in Aarhus (2015), and the redevelopment of Australia’s oldest and largest library State Library Victoria (2019).
SHL is known for its democratic approach to creating modern, open, flexible, and multi-functional spaces which interact. In 2018, the studio became part of Perkins&Will.
https://www.shl.dk/
schmidt hammer lassen architects
Manchester Metropolitan University Library building images / information received 041123
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