How "Instinct, determination and belief" have driven 25 years of Urban Splash
We’re having a lot of fun celebrating our 25th anniversary – with an exhibition and lots of events marking the work we’ve done since we first established ourselves in 1993.
I’ve also been speaking to lots of journalists to give lots of nostalgic interviews about a quarter of a century of highs, lows and achievements.
This week it was the turn of The Independent who I chatted to about the early days of the company and how we were driven to fill the gap in physical architecture with new design ideas that could match the unique cultural scene that was emerging in the North of England.
Notable cultural movements, including my good friend Tony Wilson’s infamous assault on the music scene and the renowned Hacienda nightclub, started a cultural appreciation that permeated everyday life but wasn’t reflected in the buildings around Manchester and Liverpool.
We knew something could be done and these beautiful old structures in northern cities could be reused and turned into places in which people could live, work and play. I like to think our early loft apartments and loft workspaces gave that to people in Manchester and Liverpool.
The full article, which you can read here also reflects on the “instinct, determination and belief” possessed by myself, Jonathan and our colleagues - something that drove us when we didn't have any kind of formal business plan.