The Lowry

To redevelop the derelict Salford docks, Salford City Council developed a regeneration plan in 1988 for the brownfield site highlighting the leisure, cultural and tourism potential of the area, and included a flagship development that would involve the creation of a performing arts centre. The initial proposals were for two theatres and an art gallery on a prominent site on Pier 8. Between 1990 and 1991 a competition was launched and architects James Stirling Michael Wilford Associates was selected. After the death of James Stirling in June 1992 Michael Wilford continued the project. The city council bid for Millennium and other British and European funds and private sector finance to…

The complex was designed by Michael Wilford with structural engineer Buro Happold and constructed by Bovis Construction. Groundbreaking took place on 19 June 1997. The Lowry is built on a triangular site at the end of Pier 8 and has a triangular plan. A promenade encircling the building provides views of the Manchester Ship Canal, MediaCityUK and the Salford Quays developments. The new features include a zinc topped curving bar with room to seat 150 people for casual dining. The bar also has a feature tree with leaves made from cotton, to commemorate Salford Quays' history at the centre of the cotton shipping industry. The new restaurant contains seven private booths, a newly designed open…

At the core of the complex are two theatres and a drama studio. The Lyric Theatre has 1,730 seats while the Quays has 466. The Lyric Theatre has the largest stage in the United Kingdom outside London's West End. The Daughter-in-Law by D. H. Lawrence, a play in Nottingham dialect, neither published nor performed in Lawrence's lifetime was revived at the Lyric Theatre in 2012. The Lowry was the venue for the grand final of the BBC quiz show Mastermind in 2003. The Lyric Theatre has also housed the first and only televised recording of the radio show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, which Humphrey Lyttelton chaired in April 2008. An edited version aired on BBC Four. It also hosts auditions for…