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Mace to rebuild Coronation Street

21 Dec 10 It is not just The Joinery wine bar and Rita's shop that need to be rebuilt. The entire set of Coronation Street is being rebuilt in a new location.

ITV is moving the filming of Britain’s longest running soap to the new MediaCityUK site in Salford Quays to cope with the demands of high definition TV.

Viewers recently saw a gas explosion in the wine bar’s kitchen damage the viaduct overhead, bringing a tram crashing onto the cobbles and killing dithery butcher Ashley Peacock and unfaithful young mum Molly Dobbs. Now the whole place is to be torn down.

Mace has been appointed as project and construction managers by ITV to handle the move to a 7.7-acre site at Trafford Wharf. The new Coronation Street site will be next to the Imperial War Museum North and will be accessed via a new bridge linking it to the rest of the MediaCityUK complex.

Plans for the site alongside the Manchester Ship Canal include a new external film set – built to greater scale than before to equip the soap for the demands of future broadcasting developments, whilst also replicating the original appearance of Weatherfield.
The production centre would also include two sound stage buildings, specialist production facilities and offices, dressing rooms and meeting space for production staff and cast.

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Mace is also overseeing the fit-out of ITV's office space within MediaCityUK's Orange building. This will include space for production and management teams, ITV's regional news and for support staff from across the business.

Mace director Rob Ewen said: “Coronation Street is an iconic brand and our appointment as both project and construction managers for the project to replicate the set and everything that makes Coronation Street work is just fantastic appointment.

"The Coronation Street project will underpin the future development of our Manchester office and we are delighted to have this opportunity to work with ITV on these exciting projects.”

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