Architecture, according to Ken Shuttleworth, is very much alive in the cities of Manchester and Salford.

And he should know.

Not only is he working closely with former Manchester United players Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs to redevelop a chunk of Manchester city centre, he’s about to get his hands on another scheme – this time on the other side of the River Irwell.

New Bailey and Chapel Street – or the £650m regeneration of Salford Central – covers the equivalent of 21 football pitches and includes luxury residential apartments, a multi-storey car park, a hotel and an office development.

Shuttleworth’s Make Architects have been hired by MUSE Developments and the English Cities Fund to create a mixed use 12-to-14 storey building.

Washington House, or City Wharf as it has been most recently known, is situated almost immediately above the Mark Addy Pub and close-by Salford Central Train Station but is now all-but demolished.

The site was also home to a horsehshoe-shaped prison in the 1820s called New Bayley, which was built by Thomas Butterworth Bayley.

Parts of the prison were unearthed in an excavation by archaeologists from Salford University just two months ago.

It was home to around 1,000 Manchester criminals, locked up for crimes ranging from burglary and rioting, to less serious offences such as breaching the peace and libel.

The name New Bailey is a play on New Bayley Prison, which eventually moved up to Strangeways.

Shuttleworth said the building he and Make are set to design will transform the area into a gateway site and not just somewhere people want to walk past quickly.

The 61-year-old, a partner at Make since leaving Foster and Partners in 2004, says: “At the moment we can’t reveal everything about what will replace City Wharf once it’s down.

"But we know it will have a diagonal diamond shaped roof which has a ridge with both a low point and a high point.

“That’s what we are looking at right now, anyway, as well as warm colours that will make it unique and warm as a building.

"We also will ensure that it fits with its surroundings.

“The roof will almost be a kite shape and it will make for a dramatic view when looking at the building from the centre of Manchester.”

Plans for the dramatic 50-acre Salford Central scheme have been in the public eye since December 2006.

A 660 space multi-storey NCP car park is now open, as is a 143-bed Premier Inn hotel on the south facing side of the River Irwell. Vimto Gardens – on the site of the original Vimto factory – has 83 apartments and 13 townhouses.

Planning has also been granted for 36 townhouses with rooftop gardens in the historic heart of Salford next to St Philip’s Church too. And a £16m rental scheme was announced just last week.

“The Salford Central scheme is huge," says Shuttleworth, during a chat at the People’s History Museum on the Manchester side of the Irwell, overlooking the former prison site.

“The building we are working on is in itself interesting.

"We have old maps of when it was a prison, which was before the railways came in and through.

“What we may try and do is get some of the influence of the prison into the building, not directly though. When complete it will be a flexible mixed use space."

He adds: "We want to create the best buildings in the world first and foremost at Make. It’s as simple as that, really. We look at legacy, aspirations, budget. There is no pre-conceived idea. This particular site is fantastic.

“We are trying to bring a bit of thinking from around the world to make this building unique and special.

“We are still thinking about how best to do that. But I will say that there won’t be anything else like it around here.

“It’s south facing and based on the river and will become a symbol and gateway for the area.”

Shuttleworth, despite being Birmingham born and bred, believes Manchester is the nation’s second city.

“It’s fantastic to be in Manchester,” he says. When I was at Foster we worked on Spinningfields right at the very start.

“So, this is the first time I’ve been back to Manchester in a while. But I’ve not done anything with Make before in either of the cities.

"The offer here continually improves. Architecture is alive. Manchester has a history and legacy of really confident and strong architecture. And that’s what we see ourselves doing here.

“With the building we are designing, you don’t feel like you are in Salford, it feels just like Manchester, which is interesting.

"The Mark Addy pub is a famous landmark and is right underneath us. Spinningfields also links through and it is quite well connected across the river.”

He adds: “I suppose it’s tough for me to say this, but I think you’ve got to say that Manchester is the second city. It has pressed forward so much.

“There are obviously architects who live here who do good work.

“Architects in general, anywhere around the world, start off with a lot of constraints. I find that the more constraints there are, the better and stronger the building ends up being.

“I paint as well and find the processes very different. Architecture is an art but the great thing about it is that it combines art and science. It brings both sides of those worlds together.”

CV - Ken Shuttleworth

Age 61

Born in Birmingham

Studied architecture at the Leicester School of Architecture, De Montfort University

Used to be a partner at Foster and Partners

Has worked on some of the world’s most iconic buildings. They include the ITN building in London, Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok airport and The Gherkin

He’s been at Make Architects since 2004

Completed UK projects include The Cube in Birmingham, the Montpellier Chapter hotel in Cheltenham, the Oxford Molecular Pathology Institute for the University of Oxford, and the Handball Arena for the London 2012 Olympics, known as the Copper Box

Make employs 171 people, some of who are in Hong Kong and Beijing, but most are in London

The company is on site with five projects in London#]

Company is employee owned, shares are held in a trust for the benefit of the employees, which means they are all called partners

'Make are perfect fit to continue Salford renaissance'

New Bailey covers the equivalent of 21 football pitches and includes luxury residential apartments, a multi-storey car park and a hotel.

There will also be a mix of cafes, bars and restaurants, as well as enhanced public realm in the form of a new public square, extensive landscaping and an outdoor events space.

One New Bailey, a 125,000 sq ft office development, is currently under construction and is due to be complete in May next year.

Phil Mayall, of Muse Developments, has been involved in the 50-acre Salford Central scheme since January 2008.

He told the M.E.N. that Make Architects will ‘run with the project’ as soon as City Wharf comes down.

“City Wharf is being demolished and is almost down – we are working towards the river,” says Mayall.

“We were always clear this it is a gateway. It is in a very prominent position.

“After going out to a select number of architects who we felt fitted the brief – Make came out well on top. Plans for what is going to be done are on-going. We know we can go taller if needs be.

“There will also be lots of through traffic and foot traffic through from the building, around the area and to Salford Central train station, too.”

£16m rental scheme to be built as part of New Bailey

Mayall, pictured, adds: “We want people to feel that they are coming into a district that has its own identity. So rather than a continual line, we want something that feels a little bit different, but that is related to its surroundings.

“Ownership is a crucial idea within this scheme. We needed the architects who cared about this, care in the sense that it matters to them. And that is what Make bring.

“We are working with Salford council on the design of New Bailey Street itself.

“The area has changed so much since we started work on this project. And the change in the city is just huge, too, and it is only going one way.”

“The timescale is to get to the point where we know what we are going to deliver.

“We now we have the resource and the capability. It could be a speculative building or have an element of pre-let.

“But we are here and are comitted to the site and are going to keep pushing.

“We already have planning consent so can go straight into reserved matters. We need to be about keep pushing those boundaries on this scheme.

“The more efficient the building, the more money there is to dress it.”