The very first images showing the inside of Capital & Centric’s spectacular £35m ‘Jenga‘ Leonardo Hotel have officially been released.
The 275-bed hotel – built on the corner of Adair Street and Great Ancoats in Manchester – sits at the heart of the new Capital & Centric Piccadilly East neighbourhood; which featured heavily in the recent BBC Two documentary Manctopia: Billion Pound Property Boom.
New pictures show the hotel’s ground floor restaurant, café bar and external terrace area – which connects to a new public square.
A gym and adjoining wellness studio will also be on site – with built-in tablets featuring pre-loaded meditations.
Adam Higgins, co-founder of Capital & Centric, said: “The hotel is going to be surrounded by greenery, with planters adorning the sides of the building and spilling out onto a new public square with tons of plants and trees.
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“This theme runs throughout the interiors with a feeling of nature creating a chilled out space. The building’s got such an iconic design inside and out that will really set the tone for the emerging Piccadilly East neighbourhood and draw people into the area”.
The interiors of the hotel are being designed by Manchester-based design and branding studio NoChintz – drawing on the idea of contrast whilst taking cues from the architectural Jenga design from Stephenson Studio.
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The theory of Divine Proportion will bring symmetry to the hotel – helping guests feel positively connected to the space, whilst touchpoints have been designed to stimulate the senses..
Lucy Goddard, Creative Director at NoChintz, said: “It was an obvious choice for us to continue the narrative of the exterior, conceptualising a holistic design story which celebrates differences and finds balance through contrasts.
“Themes of positive and negative, relief and recess, solid and void reference textile punch cards, artists Josef and Anni Albers, and Jenga.
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“The interior scheme weaves a wellness centric approach through every detail. Contrasting tones and textures with raw base layers and soft, organic overlays.”
She added: “Our goal is to create a memorable customer journey with strong touchpoints and sensory considerations at every step. For us, wellness is adding value through design and experience. It is designing with purpose.”
The 14-storey award-winning building is due to open in Manchester in 2022 and will be operated by Leonardo Hotels.
The Jenga building is the latest exciting development to come from Capital & Centric, who are also behind the Phoenix Building, Crusader Mill, Kampus and Weir Mill.
You can learn more about all the developments being led by Capital & Centric on their website.
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Manchester Airport issues update for anyone flying today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Airport has issued an update for anyone catching a flight today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday.
In case you hadn’t heard, hundreds of flights at several major UK airports – including Manchester Airport – were disrupted by a technical fault at air traffic control provider National Air Traffic Services (NATS) yesterday (8 September 2026), with the incident grounding planes and resulting in numerous cancellations.
According to Flightradar24, more than 1,000 flights were cancelled nationwide, and many passengers were told to expect disruption for the rest of the day.
One of the worst-affected airlines was said to be Ryanair, with around 65,000 passengers affected by the cancellations and delays.
Manchester Airport issued its first statement addressing the matter at 3:15pm yesterday, stating: “We are aware of an issue affecting NATS’ air traffic control service at UK airports, which may result in delays to some departing flights from Manchester Airport today.
“Passengers due to travel are advised to check the latest status of their flight with their airline. We will continue to monitor the situation and share further updates as more information becomes available.”
Now, although the issue has been resolved, Manchester Airport has issued further statements informing anyone travelling today what they can expect.
The airport started off by saying that it is ‘operating as normal’ today, but that passengers are advised to ‘check with their airline for the latest information’.
“A full flight schedule is expected to operate [today] but the airport may be busier due to rescheduled flights,” it added.
Passengers were then thanked for their ‘patience and understanding’ over the past 24 hours.
Featured Image – Ivan Shimko (via Unsplash)
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Hundreds of staff at four Greater Manchester hospitals to strike AGAIN next week
Emily Sergeant
Another round of strikes has been called at a handful of major Greater Manchester hospitals.
Amid ongoing disputes following the first set of strikes at the end of last month, it has now been announced that more than 350 Northern Care Alliance Foundation Trust (NCA) employees – including nurses, clinical support workers and housekeepers – who are members of the union UNISON will once again walk out for three days next week.
According to the union, the dispute centres on the NCA’s use of an outside agency called NHS Professionals (NHSP) to manage overtime.
When covering staff shortages, workers are entitled to time-and-a-half pay – however in some cases, staff earn less than they would on a normal shift, and some have even been missing out on more than £80 per shift, the union added.
Operating theatre staff were previously on picket lines in June, and although an option to resolve the row was initially tabled by NCA bosses, this has now fallen through.
Hundreds of staff at four of Greater Manchester’s hospitals are set to strike next week / Credit: Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)
This means that staff at Salford Royal Hospital, Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, and Fairfield Hospital in Bury are walking out next week on Monday 14, Tuesday 15, and Thursday 17 September.
The union’s North West regional organiser, Kevin Dolan, said the trust had given ‘no indication’ that it’s willing to re-enter negotiations, adding that operating theatre services were ‘chronically under-staffed’ and staff were choosing to work extra shifts to cover shortages.
Ahead of the August strikes, the trust declared a critical incident to help it secure extra support and keep urgent surgery running, while also announcing that some procedures would have to be postponed.
Understandably, some disruption is expected at each of the hospitals on strike days.
But Gertie Nic Philib, who is the chief people and strategy officer at the Northern Care Alliance, said that the trust will do ‘everything we can to minimise the impact on patients’ and ‘maintain high standards of care and quality at all times.’
“We also have contingency plans in place for emergency situations,” they concluded.
The Manc -
5th November 2020 
