Radcliffe, Manchester

Radcliffe is a small town on the banks of the River Irwell, located roughly midway between the towns of Bury and Bolton in north Manchester.

The town was once home to over 75 textile and spinning mills, as well as paper mills and coal mines, but all such industries began closing in the mid-20th century. Nevertheless, the town’s population has continued to grow since, with new housing now occupying many of the brownfield former industrial sites, and now has a population of around 30,000.

The unofficial centre of the town is the open square bounded by Dale Street and Blackburn Street, which was last developed in the 1990s, when a retro-styled bandstand and town clock were added, together with new paving, tree planting and seating. Over time, the square has become somewhat dated and slightly neglected.

The first upgrade to the area in over 20 years has seen the introduction of extensive new contemporary seating provision, designed to attract people to the square, to make it a destination / meeting space and encourage them to dwell in the area for longer. Landscape architects at WYG identified Furnitubes’ RailRoad product as the ideal seating solution for the site, and fully embraced the concept of combining a variety of straight and curved modules in unique configurations. Backrests, armrests and tablet surfaces have been added at various places to introduce an informality to the previously fairly plain site.

The first phase of works has seen 3 large RailRoad seating configurations added, comprising a total of 23 individual modules - all using the RailRoad ‘Edge’ support types - and providing seating for well over 50 people.