Lowry
Once more Salford City Council, by now with a new Leader, Bill Hinds and Chief Executive John Willis, took a huge leap of faith. They decided they needed something that would be a catalyst for transformational change. But the Council recognised local authority mistakes of the past. In the 1960s terraced houses had been pulled down and replaced with tower blocks. Communities were destroyed and the result was a social disaster. The same thing happened in Liverpool, Manchester and all over the country. New housing replaced the tower blocks but still there was no change in the social wellbeing of the area. Salford officers looked around the world for inspiration. They saw the power of arts-based projects in Baltimore and the powerful effect that had had on regeneration. Guided once again by Peter Hunter, the architect who had created the vision for Salford Quays, they resolved that they would create an international arts and entertainment complex in the middle of one of the most deprived communities in this country.
took a huge amount of bravery. The Council stuck its collective neck out and was absolutely correct. The rest of the world, struggling with recession, thought they were completely barmy. An initial investment of £45 million of public money brought in £450 million of investment over the next ten years. The 2 anchor investments that got the first phase away were the first multi-screen cinema in the North of England, and only the second in the country, and a hotel called the Copthorne Hotel. It was revolutionary. Nobody had done it before and meanwhile, on their doorstep, Manchester was still languishing and Liverpool was in a right old mess.
Salford ploughed its own furrow and rapidly, but in isolation, created Salford Quays, a destination where people lived and where people worked. Modern offices and service industries moved in, as we moved away from manufacturing into the service sector. But the problem was that this early investment made little difference to the local population. Most of the jobs were going, not to Salford people, but to commuters from Cheshire, Derbyshire, and elsewhere. Local people, trained for a world of manufacturing had neither the skills nor, in many cases, the aspiration to acquire new skills to take advantage of the service sector jobs that were being developed here. After years of unemployment, lack of aspiration, as much as lack of skills, was a major barrier to regeneration not only in Salford but also in many other parts of the North.
This idea first started to surface in 1988. I had gone abroad for a couple of years and when I came back in 1989, Peter Hunter, who by that time had become, and still is, my life long mentor, and Peter Henry, the erstwhile Industrial Development Officer for Salford came to me and said, “We’ve got an idea.” They showed me an artist’s impression, based on the regenerated Quays as far as it had gone. Only about half the docks had been developed. Several complete piers were still empty. On the end of one of them, pier 8, Peter Hunter had superimposed an image of the Royal Albert Hall. My reaction was “You have got to be joking. An Opera House on the Quays?” And they said, “And why not?” That was the genesis of the Lowry. The idea came from the Leadership of Salford. It was their deputy chief executive, a town planner by profession called Tony Struthers who later became President of the RTPI, who spotted the potential that the Baltimore experience offered to Salford.
As the Leader, Bill Hinds, said, “We need a catalyst, we need something which will transform aspiration and attitude, not just the attitude of people on the outside looking in, but more importantly, we need to transform the attitude and the aspirations of the people themselves; the local residents of Salford”. Without aspiration it is almost impossible to get people to change tack. You can put all the skills training in the world together, but if people do not believe it will make any difference to them, why should they be bothered to take advantage of it.
Salford recognised that to change aspirations, it was no good building something ordinary. Only something of international quality and distinction would send the message to everyone that Salford people can also have the very very best, and can also reach for the stars.
The immediate reaction to an international arts and entertainment complex for Salford was that we had all collectively taken leave of our senses. Why not build a little local theatre? That would be nice. Or community arts centre? That would be good. But Salford’s response was would either make any difference? It would be just the same as putting in another road, or another row of houses, or another estate;
46 Felicity Goodey CBE ASSET - Liverpool-10
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