With a flagship Armani store at ground floor, a restaurant and bar in the basement and three floors of high quality office space with a roof terrace, 1 The Avenue is an important contribution to Manchester’s urban fabric. The building has its own abstracted logic dictated by its location. Its pivotal form terminates the visual axis which links the Town Hall and Albert Square with Spinningfields Square, tying the retail and business district to the city’s civic core. The ‘scissor’ geometry responds to a duality of desire lines, and is immediately apparent through the dramatic cantilever onto Deansgate.

The building is conceived as a high-fashion and lifestyle outlet. The ground and first floors offer prime retail space, whilst the basement offers catwalk, restaurant and bar facilities to support this. Armani is the primary retail tenant occupying the ground and first floors with Armani Xchange, and Emporio Armani. The upper levels provide administrative support to the Armani retail component.