We’re working closely with The Factory team at Laing O’Rourke who have been hosting on-site tours of The Factory for Manchester schools, colleges and adult learners, giving an insight into this landmark building.

During lockdown as site access has been restricted, Laing O’Rourke have developed a virtual site tour that school children and college students can watch in their online lessons and in careers talks to find out more about the different roles in the construction industry.

The virtual site tour takes students and learners around The Factory, introducing them to the project and build from the initial stages to the most recent development, with time-lapse footage, clips taken from 3D models showing the construction build, visualisations of how the building will look on completion and members of the Project Team talking about their roles in building this world-class centre for culture.

The Factory view from the North of Water Street – © Pawel Paniczko

MIF have also been giving learners opportunities to come on the journey with us to The Factory.

Earlier this year Ciaron from our Creative Engagement team took a group of Year 10 students from Manchester Communications Academy on a work adventure day to The Factory site to find out more about MIF, The Factory and the different careers in the creative industries.

The students had a full tour of the building site and took part in sessions with members of the MIF and The Factory team to learn about the different roles that go into making the Festival and our year-round work happen; from artist liaison, press, community engagement, technical and production. They even imagined their own events that could happen in The Factory!

Manchester Communications Academy tour The Factory site – © Chris Payne

Students imagine the jobs that The Factory is creating – © Chris Payne

We continue to look at imaginative ways to bring The Factory to people in the region whilst we remain in lockdown – you can take a 360-degree tour of our future home on your phone here and take a look at LaTurbo Avedon’s interpretation of The Factory in Fortnite Creative as part of Virtual Factory.