2025: CELEBRATING 35 YEARS IN THE INDUSTRY
Contact One was appointed to deliver the fit-out of a basement space within Manchester’s Access Creative College. The scope included the creation of studio rooms, classrooms, WCs and offices for the music and arts college, working from designs produced by Sheila Bird.
The project involved a high level of detailed coordination. Classrooms were designed as free-standing structures to suit the constraints of the space, requiring bespoke structural design and construction. Acoustic rooms demanded close attention to meet the specification, while all joinery and finishes were produced to a high standard to create visual impact. Key elements included a media wall, acoustic panelling and custom-made joinery.
The works were completed over a 16-week programme, timed to finish before the start of the school term. Working with Sheila Bird and Access Creative College, we developed the design intention into a fully detailed construction plan. Structural elements were designed and built to support the free-standing classrooms, while the acoustic rooms received particular focus to meet the exact requirements of the brief.
The completed space met the client’s needs both acoustically and functionally, performing exactly as intended. Built in line with the original designs, it presented a high-quality finish throughout, with attention to detail evident in every area.
Collette ByronDirector - Estates, Technical Operations & Resourcing, Access Creative CollegeContact One are working with Access Creative College on an ambitious capital expansion project and have now delivered three new campuses in Bristol, Manchester and London over the past three years totalling approximately 40,000sqft.
As an education provider we work to very challenging timelines and on each occasion the team have gone above and beyond to accommodate our often very tight project delivery dates, working with us to schedule activity around the build program, managing challenging logistics and maintaining a safe site whilst ensuring that we are able to occupy on time.
We are an innovative and forward thinking organisation and the team at Contact One work closely with us and our design team to select suitable materials and construction methods to interpret and deliver our design specification to an exceptionally high standard. The finish of the work and standard of the build is always excellent which is critical for us as an education provider for young people.
Dave and the team at Contact One have put a huge amount of effort into getting to know us and truly understand us a client and this has resulted in the very successful delivery of flagship campuses to an extremely high standard, to schedule and to budget: I look forward to working with them on future projects and have absolutely no hesitation in recommending them to new customers.
