Aviva Studios is a new purpose-built cultural space in the heart of Manchester. The building has two main flexible performance spaces, the Warehouse and the Hall. On the ground floor as you come in, there is a large public space called the Social. The building is linked to our neighbours the Science and Industry Museum by the historic brick arches between our two sites.

The configuration of our building is flexible, so you might find that the Hall and the Warehouse are laid out differently from one visit to the next. We will always provide detailed access information about how the space will be set up for the event you are attending. You can find this information on the What’s On page for each event.

You can approach Aviva Studios along Water Street (coming from Quay Street) or along Liverpool Road (coming from Deansgate or Castlefield).

Both entrances to the building have double sets of glass doors – there are automatic doors at both entrances.

Once inside Aviva Studios, there is step-free access to all areas of the venue. The flooring throughout the building is smooth concrete.

The entrance to the Hall is by lift, escalator or stairs from one side of the Social beside the brick arches. There is only one escalator, and this will take you up to the Hall before the show, and will be reversed so that you can travel down at the end of the performance.

The entrance to the Warehouse is by lift or stairs from the Social. Two lifts and a staircase to the Warehouse are located in the Social opposite the bar.

The Social has a range of seating, including those with arms and backs.

The bars in the Social and Hall Foyer have lowered accessible service points.

Our building is large. We have portable stools available to borrow if you would benefit from resting along the way during your visit.

We have wheelchair spaces and seats at standing events for all events.

There are accessible toilets on all public levels of the building.

A mixture of wheelchair accessible toilets with right- or left-hand transfer as well as ambulant accessible cubicles with grab rails are located in the brick arches in the Social.

There are additional accessible toilets in both Hall Foyers.

You do not need a key to use the accessible toilets.

Assistance dogs are welcome in our building, and we can provide mats and water bowls on request.

If you are bringing an assistance dog to a ticketed event, please let us know in advance by emailing access@factoryinternational.org

Please note that we are unable to take cash payments at our retail or ticketing units currently. We appreciate that this may be an access barrier for some people, and we intend to start taking cash payments as soon as practically possible in the building. Thank you for your patience on this.

You are welcome to bring and use medication as needed at our building. If you are have any questions or concerns about this, please contact access@factoryinternational.org or call us on 0161 817 4531. Our phone lines are open 10am to 5pm Monday to Friday.

If you need to bring medically-prescribed cannabis into the venue, please get in touch with access@factoryinternational.org or call 0161 817 4531 (10am to 5pm Monday to Friday) so that we can make appropriate arrangements to meet your needs.

We will be using Williams WaveCAST headsets for both assisted listening and personal induction loops in the building.