This tour takes visitors on a journey from the height of the industrial revolution to the white heat of 1960s scientific and technological innovation. Our guides explain the history of the Manchester Mechanics’ Institution founded by eleven successful merchants in 1824 to enable workers to acquire a basic education.

The Manchester Mechanics’ Institution later took on local and national concerns by tailoring its education to meet Manchester’s industrial needs and by researching new technologies that would improve Britain’s competitive edge.

The Institution developed into the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) which established itself as a specialised centre of scientific, engineering and technological education and research.

The tour takes places around one of Manchester’s oldest industrial sites and leads visitors from the fine architecture of the Sackville building, invested with civic pride, through to the postwar modernist structures exemplifying progress and possibility. 

The tour is outside and lasts around 1 hour.