Quite a few years back, Mike Ingall of Allied London asked Paul to attend an exhibition at The Royal Academy in London. There was an installation replica of a Yorkshire barn, he said 'This is what I want in Spinningfields, how cool would it be to rent out to law firms?'
Back in Manchester, Paul was briefed to design a new bar/pub and with the exhibition in mind, he knew he just had to relate the design to that, the obvious idea was The Oast House.
Sketched out and designed, architectural model made, the rest was history, Allied London and Living Ventures absolutely loved it. PDI applied their unique set design skills and style to deliver The Oast House, a building people still to this day think Spinningfields has been built around.
In 2014, commissioned to design the new extension for The Oast House, Manchester Building Control asked PDI for an asbestos report on the building before any works could be completed. Pauls response 'I only built this 3 years ago, did you really think it was as old as its meant to!!!' The gentleman, slightly embarrassed (oops!) - The ultimate compliment in our eyes, as even the local authority thought it had been standing since day dot.
The Oast House, as it stands today the epicentre to Spinningfields, Manchester's business district. Proud to have created such a now iconic venue to the architecture of Manchester.