In October 2024 a group of students from BA Architecture walked along the Manchester Ship Canal from Salford to central Manchester. The field trip explored questions of infrastructure, urbanism, and regeneration in the built environment.
In October 2024 a group of students from BA Architecture went on a field trip along Manchester Ship Canal, walking from Salford to central Manchester.Walking along the final 5-mile stretch of the canal, and viewing its intersection with earlier 19th century infrastructure like the Bridgewater Canal, the visit was a wonderful opportunity for students to learn more about the legacy of industrial architecture and heritage in person along a significant route in Manchester.
Constructed in 1893, the Manchester Ship Canal is one of the monumental pieces of global infrastructure that led the city to become a major port in the 20th century. New types of economic activity and building typologies emerged around the canal, including the first planned industrial estate at Trafford Park which still contains engineering, telecommunications and food processing firms.
While in the 21st century the regeneration of Salford Quays has taken on different guises from cultural anchor projects like the Lowry and IWM North to the creative industries housed in Media City.
The fieldtrip was a part of the students’ BA3 Humanities module, where one option is an elective about the architecture of Victorian Manchester led by Dr Matthew Wells.
