Sky corridor image unveiled

ARCHITECTS Sheppard Robson have released designs a sky corridor – a bridge link from a helipad to a city centre hospital.

The proposed bridge design connects the new Grafton Street car park with Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CMFT) to provide vital emergency care facilities for the region.

Elevated 12 metres above street-level, the new 130 metre bridge will boost accident and emergency (A&E) care in the region by allowing paramedics to swiftly transport patients arriving by air ambulance to the hospital.

Developed in partnership with Bruntwood for the hospital the design’s longest span is 40m-long and will be clad in reflective faceted metal panels. The choice of material and varied architectural form will allow the bridge to integrate into the skyline whilst also being animated by the changing quality of light.

Tony O’Brien, partner at Sheppard Robson said: “Given the project’s location – within an estate of listed buildings and ambitious new major architectural projects – it was clear that there was a drive to create something of real architectural quality.  We wanted the design to have an iridescent, shimmering quality that had a distinctive geometric form, but also reflected and was embedded within its environment.”

The brief for the £13m extension to the existing car park was to create a naturally-ventilated structure that had the solidity of the neighbouring buildings.

The new carpark sits next to Bruntwood’s Citylabs project, which is on the site of the former Manchester Royal Eye Hospital.