Maxwell Building: a superstructure

The Maxwell Building signified a new found confidence for the College, sector and society.

On 22 September 1961, The Municipal Journal featured a two-page article on the new home for the Royal College of Advanced Technology, Salford. The Journal’s feature captured a moment of growing confidence in higher education and reflected wider post-war national ambition. The buildings became known as the Maxwell Building and Hall, a contemporary superstructure strategically located alongside the River Irwell and adjacent to Peel Park. They were officially opened earlier that same year, on 21 May 1961 by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Jointly funded by Lancashire County Council and Salford City Council at a cost exceeding £1.5 million, the project demonstrated major investment in advanced technical education and modern campus planning.

Salford was among a group of Colleges of Advanced Technology, recognised for their academic programmes operating similarly to civic universities. Government policy encouraged their clear focus on technical and scientific disciplines, prompting institutional restructuring across the sector in 1958. Salford’s newly created advanced college relocated into the modern facilities, while other courses remained in the original home (in the Peel Building). Designed to support advanced science and engineering teaching, the Maxwell Building was designed in anticipation of future campus modernisation. Continued developments incuded new halls of residence, Davy, Joule and Faraday (1964), modern computing facilities (1964), Cockcroft Building (1966), Clifford Whitworth Library (1971), Chapman Building (1972), University House (1972), and the Newton Building (1976), to name only a few.

Architecturally designed in phases by the Lancashire County Council Architects’ Department. Discussion started in 1947, with initial architectural designs starting in 1949, and the first presentation of architectural sketches and modelling in 1950, a Modern Maxwell that never was, the scheme failed to materialise due to changing legislation a year later. Under County Architect George Noel Hill (Phases I & II from 1954-1958); and C. H. Simmons (Phases II & III, 1958-1961). The Maxwell main buildings adopted a distinctive L-shaped form rising to nine storeys, with references as a “superstructure” reflecting both scale and ambition. Facilities included specialist engineering laboratories, workshops, drawing offices, lecture theatres, teaching spaces, common rooms, dining areas and library provision. The adjacent Hall, connected by a bridge, contains a large lecture hall (seating up to 1,000 students), alongside former music rooms, a gymnasium, games areas, projection facilities, and a cinema space.

The Maxwell Building embodies mid-century modernist principles, many oringating from Europe. A steel frame and precast floor system is supported by pilotis designed to address the challenging clay banks along the adjacent river. The design drew upon international style influences, inviting comparison with Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseille (1952) through the integration of diverse functions within a single vertical structure intended to stimulate social interactions and communal learning. There’s even Festival Style elements, materials and finishes which nod to the 1951 Festival of Britain. During this period, planners increasingly promoted contemporary concepts of the collegiate campus, and models associated with 1960s new universities. The Maxwell Building and Hall formed central components of a broader campus masterplan that aspired to create a coherent academic environment through proximity, connectivity and shared spaces. Future expansion seen in the first masterplan, the Comprehensive Development Plan (1961). All of this was based on the extensive redevelopment around Peel Park, including the demolition of the Peel Building and Salford Museum and Art Gallery. With hindsight, it’s difficult to imagine the campus without these earlier structures, yet proposals to remove them illustrate such an ambitious scale and forward-looking planning culture.

Maxwell Building & Hall

Address: University of Salford, Peel Park Campus, 43 The Crescent, Salford M5 4WT. Construction: 1954-1961. Architect: The Lancashire County Council Architects’ Department. Discussion from 1947, with initial designs from 1949, the first presentation of architectural sketches, and modelling in 1950. Under County Architects George Noel Hill with respect to Phases I & II from 1954-1958; and C. H. Simmons with respect to Phases II & III, 1958-1961. Assistant Architects: G. S. Pester, J. Nicholls, C. A. Spivey, C.H. Jackson, A. Holt, D. Galloway, A. Whitehead, G. L. O. Rossant, J. A. Forbes, P. T. Renninson, A. Wilson, Stuart Alan Bulmer Heppell. Contractor: John Turner and Sons (Preston) Limited.