Levitt Bernstein: a legacy of delivering meaningful spaces for Greater Manchester
Ahead of UKREiiF 2025, we're looking back at the transformative projects our partner Levitt Bernstein has delivered across Manchester, helping to transform our places for the better.
With a presence in Manchester since 2013, Levitt Bernstein has created inventive designs that improve people’s lives and support growing communities in reaching their full potential.
The Manchester Studio marks the firm's only studio outside of London, showing their dedication to delivering for the city of Manchester, the wider city-region and the people that sit within it. The practice’s ethos is about delivering for communities and people and encouraging that sense of local pride that Mancunians are famous for.
This year, the team will join the Manchester Invest Partnership at UKREiiF to help support our region’s vision for growth and ambitious plans. To celebrate their partnership, we’re looking back at the history of the practice in the region:
Royal Exchange Theatre
Before Levitt Bernstein opened its Manchester Studio in 2013, it was responsible for creating the landmark Royal Exchange Theatre. Completed in 1976, this award-winning design created a seven-sided theatre-in-the-round in the middle of a Grade II-listed Edwardian former Cotton Exchange in Manchester City Centre.
The collaborative design had to work around the building’s existing columns and period features while also delivering acoustic excellence, and accessibility. Most importantly, the team wanted to challenge preconceptions about what a theatre should look like and how it should function. The space-age design contrasted the building’s traditional interior to create an experience, bringing the audience and performers closer together; with backstage areas and public spaces merging to blur the lines between performance and reality.
The result is a staple of Manchester’s cultural scene, attracting leading and creative productions from across the world.
Twenty years after its completion, following the 1996 IRA bomb, Levitt Bernstein was invited back to restore the hall and make further adjustments to the theatre. This led to the iconic entrance that brings the modern interiors into view from the street and new studio spaces, so the theatre can develop new ideas and productions.
No. 1 Hardman Street
A small and restricted site in Spinningfields was transformed by Levitt Bernstein in 2014 into one of Manchester’s standout office spaces, No.1 Hardman Street. Working alongside Allied London and Mediacom, the building was designed with a simple, cost-effective frame and an elaborate skin on top. It created a new stimulating and creative environment to work in that would boost experiences for staff, helping the business become more productive and improve recruitment for the company. This striking office building was delivered on a low-cost budget but has now been dubbed ‘the jewel in Spinningfields’ crown’.
Withington Girls’ School
In 2015, Levitt Bernstein was invited to create a master plan vision for Withington Girls School to improve and expand its existing facilities while helping it to continue to deliver academic excellence.
The site had historically been expanded without a clear vision, leading to awkward spaces. Levitt Bernstein saw this as an opportunity to provide additional facilities and accommodate more pupils by making the space work together. An external courtyard was turned into a new internal hub for the school, linking to existing buildings that surround it. A new junior school was created between the existing sports hall and sixth form centre, with eight new classrooms, a hall, an IT suite, a library, a staff office, storage and changing rooms.
The master plan won multiple awards for delivering value and reusing existing spaces. It aimed to provide more stimulating, inspiring places to teach and learn, helping young people in the local community forge bright futures.
Old Granada Studios
Working on the design up until the planning stages, Levitt Bernstein were asked to breathe new life into a Manchester icon as part of the new St John’s masterplan for the city centre.
Granada Television HQ is a celebrated part of Manchester’s history and cultural heritage, and the firm is keen to respect its architectural significance while bringing it back into public use.
The plans will see the iconic Granda office building transformed into a hotel with a rooftop extension and swimming pool. It will also be extended to create new homes and workspaces.
Current projects
Levitt Bernstein’s work in Greater Manchester is showing no signs of slowing down. From master planning new neighbourhoods to repurposing iconic pieces of our region’s history, here are some of their current schemes:
Deansgate Gardens, Bolton
Due for completion this year, Levitt Bernstein has created a master plan for a new neighbourhood in the heart of Bolton Town Centre. Driven by existing assets, industrial heritage and context, Deansgate Gardens development is about linking people to the regenerated town centre. It will provide 167 homes including apartments and townhouses as well as outdoor spaces, shared social spaces and create a desirable new community in Bolton.
Bold Street, Trafford
Bold Street in Trafford is another sustainable neighbourhood that Levitt Bernstein is working on the overarching mission for. The mixed-tenure community in Greater Manchester will feature 147 homes, with 50% affordable, improved landscaping and active travel routes. The masterplan will prioritise health, well-being and placemaking offering public and community spaces for families to enjoy. The walkable neighbourhood will take into account the local character to create a liveable, sustainable community that complements an existing estate.
You can learn more about Levitt Bernstein’s work and discuss potential future projects with the team by visiting the Manchester Stand, The Canary at UKREiiF.