Through the Salford City Council Contractor’s Framework, Seddon was appointed to provide fit-out services to the 53,500 sq ft ‘enterprise centre’ to support and nurture new and existing media talent. The works were for the fit out of six-floors above the main reception area, totalling 53,000 sq ft, to provide a Media Enterprise Centre in the South Tower, Media City, Salford.
The Media Enterprise Centre (MEC) provides individuals and businesses with flexible office space, specialist training facilities, advice from agencies such as Business Link and Northwest Vision and Media and also provide access to the Northern Net digital media network.
The facilities combine studio and lab services with managed workspace and state-of-the-art connectivity. Building Information Modelling was used on the scheme between the designers, IBI Taylor Young and Seddon. The work was developed on a design and build basis and delivered six weeks ahead of programme.
The project was undertaken in a live environment, and as such the six different floors were delivered in a phased programme. This also allowed the team to develop user’s requirements on a floor by floor programme to achieve critical grant spending and job creation output targets. The building also included a state-of-the-art public business lounge with a high quality café and bar facility to encourage network working.
Floor seven contains a state of the art private members business lounge, ‘On the 7th’, comprising a bar, coffee shop, and dedicated meeting rooms. On the same floor connected to the media lounge The Landing has a Soho-style screening room and conference area for 120+ people. The media lounge is connected to the central comms/server room several floors below and the screening room is directly linked to The Landing Post several floors below. Key issues successfully managed include:
- Maintaining a weatherproof environment.
- Ensuring operation of the existing facility was maintained.
- Material distribution and management of deliveries.
- Segregation and security during each phase.
- Management of health and safety in a live environment.
