Planning permission has been granted for Manchester Metropolitan University’s new state-of-the-art library building.
And it looks pretty impressive, to say the least.
After the first plans and artist impression images for the prospective facility were first unveiled back in November of last year, ahead of the University’s 200th birthday, it’s been announced that Manchester City Councilhas officially given the green light for the ambitious project yesterday (15 February).
This means that MMU’s current library building at All Saints on Oxford Road will be replaced with a “modern and dynamic learning environment”.
Architects Hawkins\Brown and Schmidt Hammer Lassen were commissioned to design the striking new building.
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Great news! Plans for our iconic new library have been approved. 🤩
The library will provide a vibrant learning, research, and collaboration hub, empowering our community and fostering creativity and engagement for future generations.
With demolition works expected to begin on site this autumn, the University says the eye-catching new building will feature digitally-enabled teaching and research facilities that will enhance students’ data science and analytical skills, as well as a range of flexible break-out spaces to “support collaboration” and “nurture ideas”.
The new building will also house the University’s ‘Special Collection Museum’, and the Manchester Poetry Library too – which is the North West’s first public poetry library – plus, there’ll also be a new gallery and event spaces that public audiences will be invited to engage with.
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Andrew Fallon, who is the Director of Estates, Facilities, and Capital Development at MMU, says the new library will be a “striking addition” to the Manchester skyline.
He continued: “The new library will serve as an iconic All Saints architectural gateway to our University, and once built, it will provide a vibrant learning, research, and collaboration hub, empowering our University community and fostering creativity and engagement for future generations.”
Plans have been approved for Man Met’s ‘modern and dynamic’ new library building / Credit: Hawkins\Brown
News that MMU’s new library has been granted planning permission comes just days after it was announced that the next chapter in the storied history of Manchester’s iconic John Rylands Library is also about to be written, as the green light was too given for an ambitious £7.6 million restoration project this week.
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The Grade I-listed University of Manchester-owned building will be transformed “enhance” its contribution to research, student experience, and public engagement in the city.
Timelines for this project are expected to be announced in due course.
Appeal launched to find the owner of live chickens found at Creamfields festival
Daisy Jackson
The hunt is on to find the owner of a pair of chickens who were discovered at Creamfields festival.
The two birds were spotted on the grounds of the huge electronic music festival by bewildered festival-goers.
The cockerel and hen were trapped in a hedge, after it appears they wandered onto the festival campsite before the security barriers were installed.
The birds then found themselves trapped inside as around 70,000 music fans poured into Cheshire for a line-up that included Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia, Disclosure, and Tiësto.
The chickens have been safely rescued from the Creamfields festival site and are recovering at a wildlife centre, and now the RSPCA is on a mission to find their owner.
Festival-goers first called the RSPCA on Saturday 29 August to alert them to the cockerel and hen trapped inside the festival, one of whom assisted in the rescue mission.
RSPCA Inspector Leanne Cooper: “I was surprised that they were inside the festival site and I needed to get through the road blocks and security before reaching them on foot through muddy fields. I met the caller who helped me as they were just running up and down the hedge line where there was a wire fence blocking access.
Where the chickens were discovered at CreamfieldsThe RSPCA wants to track their owners down
“We managed to guide them out and I caught both of them with my rescue net which was a bit of a sight for the festival campers.
“I don’t think they were abandoned and they’re more likely to be stray because it’s farmland all around the festival site. They don’t have any health issues, apart from being quite underweight.
“With the fences going up a week before the festival starts they’d probably been unable to get out for some time and had been left foraging in the hedge. Someone mentioned that a third bird was also trapped, although we couldn’t find any others.
“I am really grateful to the festival-goer who found them and alerted us to their plight.”
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’.
Emily Sergeant -
16th February 2024 
