Ancoats Dispensary

Image: © Gerald England Taken: 19 Feb 2024

Ancoats Hospital began life in 1828 as the "Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary" on Great Ancoats Street. In 1869, it moved to this building in Mill Street which was built to serve the influx of people who came to the Ancoats area during Manchester's industrial hey-day (by the 1830s, around 32,000 people lived and worked in Ancoats; this population consisted principally of Irish labourers and textile workers. The specific purpose of dispensaries was to advise and treat poor people at their homes or as outpatients, relieving some of the burden on hospital facilities and minimising the possibility of epidemics that could arise if people with infectious diseases were admitted to hospitals as inpatients. The Dispensary was the earliest building on what subsequently grew to become a much larger site. In 1875, Ancoats began a Provident Branch at the Hospital and the Dispensary later separated from the main hospital to be managed by the Provident Dispensary association and becoming a 50 bed hospital for in-patients. The hospital then became officially the "Ancoats Hospital and Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary", but it was usually referred to simply as the "Ancoats Hospital". The Dispensary building has significance as the earliest and most architecturally notable building of the former hospital complex and largely comprises a red brick building with polychrome bands, and had steeply pitched hipped slate roofs, and is of an irregular plan, and of a gothic style. The Dispensary is Grade II listed https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1283019?section=official-list-entry Since the closure of Ancoats Hospital in 1989, the majority of the hospital complex has been demolished and the Dispensary is now the only former hospital building remaining on the Ancoats site. It was derelict by 2010 Image and the upstanding remains comprised principally the exterior walls, which by 2017 were completely supported by scaffolding Image Planning consent was sought for its demolition - https://www.manchester.gov.uk/egov_downloads/10_-_former_Ancoats_Dispensary.pdf - but The Greater Manchester Building Preservation Trust then agreed to buy the building from Urban Splash for just £1. The Trust needed to raise £3m to bring it up to modern standards. The "Ancoats Dispensary Trust" https://ancoatsdispensary.org/, was formed with the aim of saving the building. The Trust had hoped to restore it into a community café, event space, and meeting rooms, alongside two storeys of offices, which were to be developed in partnership with Igloo Regeneration, alongside architect Purcell. However, the project failed to secure a £4.5m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the works after the HLF said there had been "a lack of progress on match funding" and said it would be "reckless" to back the project with further funding. In 2018 it was handed back to Manchester City Council who drew up plans to redevelop the building into affordable housing in partnership with Great Places Housing Group. https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/trust-devastated-as-dispensary-handed-back-to-council/ Great Places has appointed Eric Wright Construction to oversee the development which will include 39 one- and two-bedroom apartments that rented out at affordable prices under plans created with Manchester City Council and Homes England. As both the facades and the tower are grade II listed, the new build will take place at the rear of the dispensary with a two-storey extension. The tower will be restored to its former glory. https://www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/planning-construction-news/ancoats-dispensary/104030/ The first residents are expected to move into the property in Spring 2024. https://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/200079/regeneration/8462/ancoats/8

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