It was to cost £650,000. The Municipal Domestic and Trades College was to be 134 ft high, also known as the Central School of Domestic Economy. The
Clothing Institute wanted the building to be built. It would teach hair dressing, with beauty salons, and manufacture of clothing. The main building was known as The Prism, with consultants LG Mouchel, and main contractors J Gerrard and Sons of Swinton. It was opened by Princess Margaret on 8 March 1962, who had flown to Manchester Airport in a Heron aircraft. She also opened the Albert Memorial CE Secondary Modern School in Collyhurst. The site had cost £805,000. It was called the Hollings College for the Food and Fashion Industries. The architecture critic
Nikolaus Pevsner described the building as "a perfect piece of pop architecture". It was Grade II listed in April 1998 by
English Heritage who describe the structure as, "a distinctive and memorable building which demonstrates this architect's love of structural gymnastics in a dramatic way". To others the building symbolises the ideals of the
Festival of Britain and architectural positivity following the
Second World War. ==Structure==