13
November
2015
|
09:30
Europe/London
University’s Whitworth is top Manchester tourist attraction
- Crowned top large tourist attraction at the Greater Manchester Tourism Awards
- Also Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Building of the Year
Cornelia Parker The Whitworth
The University of Manchester’s Whitworth has been crowned top large tourist attraction at the Greater Manchester Tourism Awards, on a night in which the recently refurbished gallery was also named Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Building of the Year.
The Greater Manchester Tourism Awards are organised by Marketing Manchester and have been running since 2005. This year it was the Whitworth that won the top prize with another University success coming for Adam Woof, Operations Manager for the Chancellor’s Collection who was named Tourism Star of the Year.
Meanwhile the gallery was also named Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Building of the Year. This year three University of Manchester buildings contested the top prize out of a total shortlist of six. Also nominated were the new building for the Manchester Cancer Research Centre and the National Graphene Institute.
“
Having three buildings nominated for the Building of the Year is testament to the ambition of our ongoing campus developments as we seek to create a world-class environment for researchers, students and visitors
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
„
The latest awards cap a hugely successful year for the Whitworth, which reopened in February following a major £15m refit. The renovation was the largest in the Whitworth’s 125-year history, doubling its former size, with a new glass wing overlooking Whitworth Park.
Highlights of the revamped attraction include the galleries, housing exhibitions by Cornelia Parker and Cai Guo-Qiang, open corridors, work spaces, the reopened Victoria Grand Hall and the ‘cafe in the trees’.
These improvements have led to the gallery being named Europe’s Best Emerging Culture Destination, North West Building of the Year, Museum of the Year 2015 and being shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize, winning the people’s choice vote hosted by the BBC.
President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell said: “These awards for the Whitworth show just how important it is to the city as an attraction and now, following its refurbishment, an iconic building.
“Having three buildings nominated for the Building of the Year is testament to the ambition of our ongoing campus developments as we seek to create a world-class environment for researchers, students and visitors.”