It’s holiday season and Building is taking a staycation in Manchester: this August edition has zoomed in on the north of England’s biggest and most vibrant city, talking to those shaping its skyline, creating workspaces, building homes, designing space for leisure and fun.

But first, a little trip down memory lane. Back in 2006 the man who was known as Mr Manchester, the late great Tony Wilson, of Hacienda and Factory Records fame, guest-edited the magazine with his partner Yvette Livesey. The edition became a bit of a collector’s item because it was honoured with its very own FAC number (the cataloguing system Factory Records used for all its creative output – FAC 481, if you’re interested in tracking it down). At the time Wilson had the role of “regeneration adviser” for the city, and with Livesey he had a big vision to rejuvenate the Pennine towns to the north of Manchester.

Sadly, Wilson did not live to see these later plans through; he died in 2007 aged just 57. What would he think of his beloved city 16 years on from that special edition of Building? That’s one of the questions we put to Livesey, who continued to live in the region and is now married with a young family.

…