Despite its prominent location, close to Piccadilly Gardens and the station, ONE Portland Street had been underperforming as a high-profile commercial address. A combination of practical, aesthetic, and estate management challenges had rendered it somewhat invisible in a fast-moving market.

The project aimed to reposition its identity and making it a place where people would not only want to work but feel a sense of arrival. The client and agents anticipated that this strategic enhancement would attract high-quality tenants to the previously vacant first-floor space and significantly increase the asset’s value. A once overlooked corner is now a confident landmark, with a newly established presence on a key city thoroughfare.

Sitting on the site of Manchester’s former asylum, ONE Portland Street embraces its location’s complex character with a design that deliberately contrasts two distinct entrance experiences, each with its own dynamic identity and atmosphere.

At street level, the pedestrian entrance presents a professional face: calm, poised, and business-like. Lines of symmetry, textured concrete panels, smoky mirrored surfaces, and brushed metals are combined with acid yellow highlights and refined neon signage. The design carefully balances monochrome tones with subtle industrial undertones, creating a welcoming yet robust sequence of spaces that enhance security, reduce draughts, and address previous anti-social behaviour, while staying true to Manchester’s gritty urban spirit.

The open and exposed corner was enclosed with new curtain walling to form a new warm, light-filled vestibule, acting as both a draft lobby and a transitional space that manages heat loss, assists navigation, and improves security. Thoughtful detailing from architecture through to interior and lift design ensures a consistent and sophisticated arrival experience.

In contrast, the basement cycle hub offers a bolder, more rebellious welcome. Alongside a reduced car park, the space has been transformed into an expressive and unapologetically bold arrival point for those coming by bike. This space reflects the other side of Manchester: raw, colourful, and unfiltered.

Drawing inspiration from the city’s iconic music scene and Factory Records design language, the basement features hyper-bold colours, pill-shaped graphic patterns, and an irreverent playfulness. Floor paint, wall graphics, neon lighting, and exposed concrete create an urban journey that is as much about personality as practicality. Showers, changing rooms, and bike repair stations are delivered with a subtle nod to Manchester’s creative spirit, incorporating references to album covers, typography, and the city’s cultural vibrancy.

The project is not simply a refurbishment of entrances but an exercise in crafting a dual-aspect identity, where arrival is an experience and the building’s narrative is interwoven with its context. ONE Portland Street now provides two contrasting but complementary ways to arrive: one formal, composed, and business-ready by foot; the other raw, expressive, and unfiltered by bike, scooter or car. Both are essential parts of the building’s new character and amenity provision; acknowledging Manchester’s colourful past while confidently stepping into its future.