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9th
June 2003 |
Tom
Bloxham moved to Manchester as a youngster to study politics at
the University of Manchester. Since then he's tried his hand with
a music stall and a poster shop in the legendary Afflecks Palace
before becoming a household name with his property development company,
Urban Splash. Their brave approach of
redeveloping old buildings rather than knocking them down has won
much praise from the people of Manchester and it was therefore no
surprise that Tom was made Chair of the North West Arts Board. He
spoke exclusively to Pride Of Manchester about his life, his influences
and and his thoughts about the city's architecture. |
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Tom Bloxham: "No not at all. I thought I was
just going to come to study I suppose for three or four years."
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At
University, you didn't really plan for a career in architecture |
"No
- I did Politics & Modern History" |
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So
what made you suddenly go into property development? |
"What
happened was I came to college - I'd been working for a year before
selling fire extinguishers door-to-door. I wanted some money so I
started selling records and posters in the Student's Union at the
University. I then went to try and find a shop but I couldn't get
a shop so I got a tiny unit in Affleck's Palace. And then I wanted
a bigger shop but there was no space left so I took a lease in what's
now Affleck's Arcade. Anyway, it was too big for my posters so I started
sub-letting part of it. I ended up making more money from sub-letting
the space than selling the posters and thought 'I must be into property!'" |
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Have you kept
any memories from your poster business? |
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"I kept one of every
poster I did for years but I've lost those. I have none up on my walls
but what I have got is a collection of Jamie Reed Sex Pistols ones
that I bought of him." |
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What type of music
were you into at the time? |
"I wasn't really
into music to be honest - when I started selling records, I bought
all the wrong records. As a kid I was into all the punk stuff and
the ska thing but I'm not a great music connoisseur" |
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You're
involved with Baa Bar on Deansgate Locks and also the one in Liverpool. |
"Yeah,
it started because they were tenants in Liverpool actually but they
went bankrupt so I took it over. We're now expanding looking at six
or seven different bars now that are run." |
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One
of those bars, Modo, have just taken over Quay Bar, which is a fantastic
building. |
"Quay
Bar has been bought by Urban Splash actually and they're tenants.
it's quite a nice bar now and perhaps potentially it could be a development
site at some stage in the future " |
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Your first building
in Manchester, Ducie House (behind Piccadilly Station), was saved
from demolition and a future life as a car park. Is your passion for
old, quality buildings like that still the same today as it was then? |
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"I'm interested
in good buildings - I don't mind if they're old or new to be honest
with you. I'm possibly more excited about new buildings but it always
struck me as a total waste if people are going to demolish perfectly
good buildings, and often very attractive buildings, just because
they didn't know what to do with them." |
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Are
there any new buildings in the city that have really caught your
eye that you haven't been involved in? |
"Yeah,
I like Number 1 Deansgate, which externally I think is great. I think
that the Piccadilly Gardens looks really interesting. I like the CIS
building." |
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Why
the CIS building? It's an old 1970's style isn't it? |
"Yeah,
well there's a bit of Mies van der Rohe there. I just think the confidence
- it's the tallest building in Manchester - the confidence in the
organisation that built it as their head quarters - very modernist
looking. I think it looks good, it's great when it's lit up. I think
it's a cracking building." |
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The Box Works
was an old art deco building whilst Britannia Mills was an old Victorian
warehouse. What's your favourite style of architecture and are there
any architects who have heavily influenced you? |
"The last one we've
done, I always like better than any others and hopefully it will keep
getting that way. Personally I like really simple modernist buildings,
probably my favourite architect is Mies van der Rohe with things like
the Barcelona Pavillion. I can appreciate a lot of different sort
of styles - it's quality that's important rather than style." |
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You say the last
development you've done, you always like better than any others, but
looking back which one has given you the biggest sense of achievement? |
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"I think Timber
Wharf. I wasn't that keen on it when we first built it, but the
more I see it the more I like it. it's quite subtle and some people
don't like it because they say it's really plain but I think it's
going to be really good. it's modern, it's new, it's different, it's
got a great sense of simplicity and a very simple but huge atrium,
really generous corridors - it just feels really calm and beautiful." |
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From your previous
projects, it's obvious that you care about the heritage buildings
and the 'dark satanic mills' in Manchester. Does it annoy you when
you see other developers demolishing some of the city's history to
replace it with bland 'same-old-same-old' buildings that will probably
be eyesores in 10 years time? |
"Yeah, I'd encourage
anybody who actually has a go at developing difficult projects.
One of the best things that happened to us was other developers
copying us and coming into the city centre and doing homes because
it really pushed the market and transformed it.
"What we were doing people thought
it was great but 'is it a fad or fashion?' And when you get all
the big major builders doing it, everyone can see it's here to stay.
But I hate people who miss opportunities and build mediocre buildings,
alternatively knock down what are perfectly good buildings just
because they haven't got the imagination to reuse them." |
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With that
in mind, what do you think of The Haçienda development and
the controversy of the original building being destroyed? |
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"I have fond,
affectionate memories of the Haçienda just as a club. But
I think, given the fact it's not going to be a club any more, I think
if thats the case you want to find new uses for it. Most
of the building of the Haçienda was basically a shed - it
used to be a boat yard with not very much to commend it'self by.
So replacing that building with something new, I haven't got a problem
with as long as the new building is better than the old one. I thought
possibly a lack of imagination to use the old name 'The Haçienda'
- perhaps they should have done something different and new. All
the things that the Haçienda stood for is perhaps the antithesis
of what Crosby City Flats stand for." |
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Whilst
you praise people for coming into the city and copying your approach,
for example the St.George's Church apartments next to Urban Splash's
sales office at Castlefield, is there anybody who's come along and
nicked a property you had your eyes on? |
"Oh sure - loads
of them but that's just the market - whoever pays the most will
get the properties. Nevermind that, the only thing that does annoy
me is people who buy properties and don't develop them. They just
sit on them there waiting for prices to go up - I think thats not
really helpful to the city. I mean as long as somebody gets a property
and starts developing it and tries to create some good buildings
then they've got my support." |
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Any big regrets
you've got with some of those you've missed out on? |
"Oh,
I've missed out on hundreds! You know, I can point out half the
buildings in Manchester which I've been offered, at sometimes as
low as 10% of what they're worth today, and I've said no to them.
But you can't buy everything can you?" |
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Given that you
were involved in saving the Old School House in Trafford Park, what
are your thoughts on the destruction of the old MetroVickers/GEC-AEI
office building which was just around the corner? |
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"It was one of
the first steel-frame buildings actually. 1914 or so it was built
and it was a copy of their headquarters somewhere in America. All
the way around it was a model village - one of the largest villages
built - and there was loads of Coronation Street terraces. The school
was obviously The Old School and there was a church and chapel and
some shops." |
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As you probably
know, it's now been knocked down and turned into some big corregated
warehouses (Electric Park). Does it annoy you when you see things
like that happen? |
"Yeah but I'm
not a conservationist for the sake of conservation but I thought
the whole area was quite an interesting area. I don't know enough
about it really to get annoyed but I thought the old building had
a bit of character and it was an interesting historic building as
it was quite an early steel frame one. I dare say, they would argue
it was no longer suitable for the purpose. But quite often, as we've
shown with The Match Works [in Liverpool], you can find new uses
for old buildings. But I don't know enough really about the detail
of it." |
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You've successfully
bridged the Manchester/Liverpool divide and pulled off some great
projects in both cities - how does working with the respective City
Councils compare? |
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"I think Manchester
for a long time have been known to be business friendly and a city
I wanted to do business in. Liverpool in the past certainly had
the opposite reputation. I think Liverpool are working very hard
to try and improve that and to be a council to do business with
and, you know, we've done a lot of joint ventures with them - a
lot of very successful things. So you know, both cities are in the
Premier League of cities to do business - you can work with both
of them, but I think Liverpool has made some mistakes with the property
industry, particularly in King's Dock. I think it still, like all
of us, has probably got a bit more to learn about selling land and
doing joint ventures with property developers." |
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In fairness to
Liverpool, a lot of criticism that's been directed to Manchester City
Council for allowing the 'anytown budget hotel' style architecture
can not be directed their way, which is highlighted by the Liverpool
Travelodge, designed by Urban Splash and arguably one of the best
of it's type in the country. |
"Yeah but to be
honest it's more to do with us owning the land, which to be fair
we bought from Liverpool and forcing it through was defying the
odds. I mean, The Premier Lodge at the top of Princess Way by the
Mancunian way, just coming in to town is the most vile building
- I mean the architecture is just so poor - apologies to the architect,
if they used one, but I really object to things like that..." |
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"The
thing with most art is it's actually voluntary isn't it?... I've
got no time for the Mary Whitehouse's of this world - if you don't
like a film, use your remote control - if you don't like a book,
don't read it - if you don't like a piece of art, turn your eyes
away from it - but architecture is compulsary; we all have to look
at it every day and I think it's really really important we work
hard to build great buildings." |
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Prince Charles
said something similar a few years ago and got ripped to shreds by
the media. |
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"Yeah, but I think
my tastes differ a bit to his. The issue with it I think is I keep
passionate about it but I think, at one stage anyway, he equated
all things old as being good and all things modern as being bad.
I think there's just two types of
buildings - good ones and bad ones. Some old buildings are very
very good and some old buildings are very mediocre, and likewise
some new buildings are excellent and some new buildings are mediocre." |
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Everything that
Urban Splash has done should stand the test of time, whereas some
other developments in Manchester are likely to be eyesore's in fifty
years time. It makes you wonder what they are going to do with them
in that time as it would be hard to demolish a building that's populated
by lots of people who've paid to live there. |
"Some people are
proud sometimes to put up buildings with a lifespan of ten or twenty
years, which again I find abhorrent. Again, if you look at all the
old Victorian legacy that was left - the likes of the Britannia
Hotel, it was actually built as warehousing, then used as offices,
then as a hotel, and maybe in a few years could be turned into flats
or something else - Buildings of an indefinite life but are quality
buildings. Every few years, you may have to come back and refit
out the inside of them but the buildings should last forever." |
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You're known as
being an innovator with socialist tendencies and someone who has always
been prepared to take on a challenge, but now that you're a millionaire
with an MBE and Chair of the North West Arts Council, is there any
danger you will become a 'safer' Establishment-type? |
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"Erm... I hope
not! I'm not sure about socialist - I always thought I was quite
a successful capitalist, although I know what you're saying. Would
I be a boring Establishment type? No but it's a bit worrying isn't
it? I always used to complain that whenever you saw these boards
and groups of people there, it was the same old usual suspects that
used to crop up...and now I suppose I can be accused of being one!"
"Erm, I don't know... whenever
I'm in a position of influence I always try to challenge things
that I think are not right and I'm always quite forthright with
my views. To be honest with you, I think it shows a confidence in
the government that they actually put me in positions of power."
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Finally, you've
been a student, you've sold records, you've had a poster shop, you
moved into bar ownership and obviously, you're a property developer,
but what's your next career move Tom? |
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"Oh, who knows?
I've tried lots of different things and I've been into radio stations
and everything else. But in property I've found, both it's a massive
industry that you'll never grow to dominate and, secondly, it's something
that's great fun with a real sense of achievement of taking a crappy
site and turning it into a good building. So I think I'll be in
this for a few more years and try to avoid any further distractions." |
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So
you don't fancy moving into stadia development and putting a few
extra much-needed seats into your beloved Old Trafford? |
"You
never know... you never know!" |
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Thanks
Tom for taking the time out of your incredibly busy schedule to talk
to Pride Of Manchester. |
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Pride
Of Manchester would especially like to thank Cathy Cunny at Urban
Splash for helping us arrange the interview. |
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This interview is © 2003 Pride Of Manchester & Tom Bloxham |
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