Didsbury Campus

The Didsbury Campus on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury, a suburb of Manchester, England, was originally a private estate before becoming part of Manchester Metropolitan University; the oldest building on the site dates to around 1785. It became a theological college for the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1842, about the same time as a chapel—later incorporated into the college—was built. These buildings are now listed. In 1946 in response to a growing need for new teachers across the country, the site became a temporary teacher training college, becoming permanent in 1950. Over the next 30 years there was a significant building programme, with classrooms, lecture theatres, offices, sports facilities and a library all constructed. The college became a part of Manchester Polytechnic (later Manchester Metropolitan University) in 1977. In 2005 the campus became home to the Science Learning Centre North West. The university closed the campus in 2014, sold the land to developers, and moved its facilities to a new purpose-built campus named Birley Fields in Hulme. All the buildings constructed after the Second World War were then demolished, with only the listed buildings remaining. As of 2018 these are being converted into homes as part of the site's redevelopment as a residential area.