Science & Industry Museum - Power Hall

Originally constructed in 1855 as a shipping shed for the world’s first inter-city steam-powered passenger railway, the Grade II listed Power Hall is one of the most significant surviving buildings of the industrial revolution. Following a six-year closure for urgent repairs, the building has reopened as the Andrew Law Gallery, home to one of the UK’s largest collections of working steam, gas and electric engines.

The Power Hall forms part of a wider regeneration of the Science and Industry Museum’s seven-acre site. The masterplan aims to repair and decarbonise the museum’s historic buildings while improving public access and connections to Manchester’s growing cultural quarter, including nearby Aviva Studios.

Carmody Groarke’s work reinstates the clarity of the 108-metre-long hall, revealing the rhythm of its historic timber trusses and dividing the space into two parallel bays. A new central entrance aligns with the east–west axis of the original goods shed, establishing a clear route through the museum site from the New Warehouse and Upper Yard into the Power Hall. As a result, visitors now enter at the centre of the building, where sightlines extend west towards railway rolling stock and east towards the steam engines.