New plans to transform the Piccadilly Gardens wall and pavilion have been unveiled

Nearly two years on from the demolition of the much-hated ‘Berlin Wall‘, the neighbouring pavilion building in Piccadilly Gardens is set for a massive transformation.

Back in 2014, Legal & General Property acquired One Piccadilly, the huge office block on Piccadilly Gardens that includes a series of restaurants and cafes on the ground floor, plus the notorious Piccadilly Pavilion found by the bus station.

The pavilion also included the infamous ‘Berlin Wall’, a free-standing concrete slab which was demolished at the end of 2020, much to the joy of Mancunians far and wide.

Despite the demolition of the wall, however, the pavilion has remained in the same dreary state and, to this very day, remains unloved and resented by those who unlucky enough to pass it by every day.

SpaceInvader

But now, Legal & General have unveiled their plans to modernise and renovate the remaining Pavilion building, with them enlisting the services of architects SpaceInvader to inject a new lease of life into it.

SpaceInvader were the ones who re-designed the interiors of One Piccadilly itself, and they will now be turn their attention to the pavilion, where they are allegedly looking to ‘enliven’ the current design with an art installation across the southern wall.

Read More: Piccadilly Gardens used to be home to a huge ‘lunatic asylum’

According to Place North West, the main part of the proposal would see the roof connecting the two parts of the pavilion, designed by Tadao Ando, removed to create two separate buildings. 

The scheme also aims to create better permeability, and make access to the gardens more visible and inclusive, according to a planning statement by Savills. 

SpaceInvader

Overall, the scheme aims to create better ‘permeability’ and to make access to Piccadilly Gardens more visible and inclusive.

Sadly the scheme is still under development and is yet to be approved, though we can only hope that 2022 will be the year we see a better and improved Piccadilly Gardens.

This comes just months after the council announced that Piccadilly Gardens would be the centre of a massive £25M landscape and design competition, which will invite urban design and landscape teams from across the globe to present their ideas for the regeneration of the area.

The council said it wants Piccadilly Gardens to be a ‘special place with a strong sense of identity, welcoming and uniquely-Mancunian, and one that allows for the flexible hosting of events.’