We wanted to get them working again. We thought that they’d make good places to live. We thought that we could make them amazing homes, with a bit of imagination and some top notch architecture. Just like other Europeans, we thought people would want to live in our cities, in buildings with a bit of soul.

We wanted inspirational spaces, amazing offices, independent retailers. We wanted to make places to work that were part of wider communities. We wanted to create spaces for a new generation to make something good. We wanted to make going to work as enjoyable as going home.

We’ve been doing it since 1993, first in Manchester and Liverpool, when a history graduate got together with an architect, an interior designer, a chartered surveyor and two builders. Now we’re doing it across the country.