Manchester Pioneers from the Industrial Revolution, to the Founders
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BLACK PMS300 1 2 3 4 Manchester Pioneers Built to Fly The Northern Quarter Original Modern From the industrial revolution, Grade II* Listed, Avro was The independent spirit of A.V. Roe One, two and three bed lofts, to the founders of British aviation, once home to A.V. Roe & Co., lives on in Manchester's colourful overlooking the Rochdale Canal. to Urban Splash, the company that manufacturers of the iconic Northern Quarter, the cultural heart The original exposed and celebrated, kick-started the loft living revolution, Lancaster and Vulcan planes, of Manchester and home to some the best of the old, and the best of Manchester's pioneering spirit… and one of the most successful of its best bars, restaurants and the new. Be part of a reanimation as alive today as it was in 1825. companies in British aviation history. arts venues. inspired by history. Manchester Pioneers Back in 1993, when the cities were empty, shut up at night and “urban” was a dirty word, we took a leap of faith. We saw something that other people hadn't in old industrial buildings; we thought they were amazing and beautiful, and we thought people should live in them. From Britannia Mills in Castlefield, to Smithfield Building in the Northern Quarter and Concert Square in Liverpool; we have pioneered city living in the north of England, reinventing old buildings and creating amazing new homes, workspaces and communities. 25 years and nearly 400 awards later we're back doing what we do best with Avro, one of Manchester's last untouched Victorian Mills - and we're working with our old friend, Roger Stephenson, fellow pioneer and architectural legend who helped us transform Smithfield Building all those years ago. Avro was built in 1825 and was once home to the A.V. Roe aviation company: the founders of British aviation and manufacturers of the iconic Lancaster and Vulcan planes. We'll celebrate this in the Urban Splash way; reclaiming history not sterilising it, making the best of the past and giving Avro a future. These are homes for pioneers, for people who love this city like I do. Avro could only be in Manchester, the greatest industrial city in the world. Well, perhaps it’s just the greatest city in the world now... Tom Bloxham MBE Chairman & Co-Founder Manchester Made Avro Manchester Made Avro Manchester Made Avro Manchester Made Avro Manchester Made Avro Manchester Made 14 15 01 Heritage 1858/70— The mill was still run as a cotton factory, now by the new owner Fairweather & Williams. During the cotton famine of the 1860s the owners resorted to letting floors to a variety of new users, none of which related to cotton spinning but included several clothing manufacturers, one of which was owned by H.V. Roe. 1910— A.V. Roe & Co. occupied the ground floor until the end of the First World War. There had been two rows of cast iron columns on 1825— Brownsfield Mill was this floor but the plane makers built along the Rochdale Canal removed one row to allow Room and power in 1825 and was powered by more space for erecting the a sixty-horsepower steam wings and fuselage. By 1913 engine. Cotton was spun, some of the aircraft doubled, bleached, dyed, manufacturing was transferred Avro, AKA Brownsfield Mill, first wound and made ready for to alternative locations as they opened in 1825 as a "Room and sale in the mill. It is thought needed more space and Power Mill". It offered serviced floor that the Rochdale Canal gradually the building became Company owned and built redundant. space for rent (room and power) and Brownsfield Mill, however, enabled entrepreneurial individuals the first occupier Nehemiah 1924— The remains of a and small companies to get Gerrard and Son may have triplane were discovered in built the mill as tenants on the roof space in 1924. established. So, when Wikipedia the Canal Company's land. This was restored, and is credits Brad Neuberg with creating now exhibited in the Science coworking in San Francisco in 2005, 1831— Construction Museum in London. we'll politely beg to differ! completed. Originally known A replica is on display at the as Gerrard's Mill after the first Manchester Air and Space occupier Nehemiah Gerrard Gallery in The Museum of From a potential first, to an and Son, spinners and Science and Industry (MOSI). important last: Avro is the only mill manufacturers of sewing cotton. 1959/88— Used for a variety in the area to retain its original stair of purposes, alterations and tower and chimney. This is now 1837/50— Owned and refurbishments were being thought to be the oldest surviving occupied by Binns & Co who made right up to 1959. Parts mill chimney in Manchester and is dealt with bleaching, dyeing remained occupied in the late and spinning of cotton. A full 1980s as a cash and carry a significant part of our great city's height "stair tower" was added premises. The building was architectural heritage. to the west wing after 1849. listed Grade II* in 1988. Avro Manchester Made 16 17 Avro Sir Alliott Verdon-Roe OBE, Hon. FRAeS, FIAS — Heritage 1877—1958 ALLIOT VERDON —ROE Guaranteed to fly Bulls-Eye Once upon a time, the firm of H.W. It was here that aircraft production Everard & Co. made elastic men's commenced and A.V. Roe & Co. Biography braces at Brownsfield Mill under became one of the most successful the trade name 'Bulls-Eye'. The British aviation companies of its time, company belonged to H.V. Roe, and building iconic Avro marques such as Early Life— Roe was born in but, although he passed the Aviation Career— In 1906 Britain. He then began to build space under a railway arch while keeping men's trousers up is the Avro 504, Tutor, Anson, Patricroft, Eccles, Lancashire. technical and mathematics Alliot applied for the job of a series of flying models, and at the western end of the viaduct. Despite many an admirable pursuit, it was H.V.'s Lancaster, Lancastrian, York, The son of a doctor, he left papers, he was rejected for Secretary of the Royal Aero won a Daily Mail competition home when he was 14 to go failing some of the general Club. Although there were with a prize of £75 for one of setbacks, Roe persisted with brother, A.V. Roe, who made the Shackleton and Vulcan. to Canada where he had been subjects. As well as doing better qualified candidates, his designs in 1907. With the his experiments and there is more significant contribution to offered training as a surveyor. dockyard work, Roe joined the Roe's enthusiasm impressed prize money and the use of now a blue plaque history as an aviation pioneer and A total of 28 aircraft, empennage and When he arrived in British ship SS Jebba of the British the interviewers and he was stables at his brother's house commemorating his first Columbia he discovered that & South African Royal Mail given the job. Shortly after he in West Hill, Putney, he began successful flight (in July 1909) the first man to fly in England. wing sets were created at Avro. The a slump in the silver market Company as fifth engineer on moved to Denver as a to build a full-size aeroplane, at the site. His triplane, Avro 504 kept the company busy meant that there was little the West African run. He went draughtsman for G.L.O. the Roe I Biplane, based on ‘Avroplane’, was discovered in Alliot Verdon Roe became throughout the First World War and demand for surveyors, so he on to serve on other vessels, Davidson, who had devised his winning model. He tested the roof space of Brownsfield spent a year doing odd jobs finishing his Merchant Navy a twin-rotored aircraft and this at Brooklands in 1907-08, Mill in 1924, and is preserved sufficiently successful for his was an instant success with the and returned to England. career as third engineer secured the financial backing recording his first successful in London's Science Museum. brother to suggest they form a new Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Back home he served as an aboard the SS Ichanga. It was of Sir William Armstrong of flight on 8 June 1908. After company together. A.V. Roe & Co. Naval Air Service with nearly 9,000 apprentice with the Lancashire during these voyages that he Armstrong-Whitworth. encountering problems with was formed on 1 January 1910 with individual aircraft built. & Yorkshire Railway. He later became interested in the Disagreements about the the management of Brooklands tried to join the Royal Navy to possibility of building a flying design of the machine and he moved his flight the registered office in the study marine engineering at machine, having observed the problems with his salary led to experiments to Walthamstow basement of Brownsfield Mill. King's College London, soaring flight of albatrosses. Roe's resignation and return to Marshes, where he rented Avro Manchester Made 18 19 Avro — Heritage Today it is possible to stand on the precise The Avro 'Type E' biplane was dispatched in spot on the ground floor of the shorter of the sections by horse-drawn cart to London Road two wings of Brownsfield Mill, sometimes (Piccadilly) Station for testing at Avro's flying referred to as the annexe, where a ground at Brooklands. photographer set up his camera 105 years ago in 1912 to record the Avro 'Type E' biplane under construction. The distinctive cast-iron beam supports are still exactly as they were in 1912, and presumably as they were when the mill was built in 1825.