WHSmith Travel Essentials Store — Manchester Airport Terminal 2
Appointed as architect and Principal Designer (Building Regulations), we took WHSmith's new Manchester Airport Terminal 2 store from concept through to detailed design — leading a dedicated team of four, navigating stringent landlord approvals, building regulations, and delivering a distinctive sense-of-place retail environment within one of the UK's most ambitious airport transformation programmes.
When one of the UK's most ambitious airport transformation programmes called for retail fit-outs that could match the ambition of a £1.3 billion terminal, we were appointed as architect and principal designer to deliver the new WHSmith Travel Essentials Store at Manchester Airport Terminal 2 — taking the project from initial concept all the way through to detailed design and construction.
Our project lead headed an in-house team of four, managing the full project from our offices and maintaining close oversight of every stage of the design process. This hands-on, studio-led approach ensured consistency, quality, and clear communication across all workstreams from inception through to delivery on site.
The entire project was delivered in Revit, enabling a fully coordinated Building Information Model throughout. This allowed us to produce detailed 3D realisations of the design — invaluable both for client and landlord approval presentations — whilst facilitating robust clash detection across disciplines. Working in a federated model environment alongside the structural and MEP designers, we were able to identify and resolve coordination issues well ahead of construction, reducing risk on site and ensuring a smoother, more efficient delivery programme.
Our role was comprehensive and exacting. As principal designer, we led the building regulations process end-to-end, navigating the stringent technical and compliance requirements inherent to a live airport environment. Simultaneously, we managed the landlord approvals process in full alignment with Manchester Airports Group's new Terminal 2 fit-out standard — one of the most demanding retail design frameworks in UK aviation, developed to ensure every unit contributes to a genuinely world-class passenger experience.
From the outset, our design approach was rooted in a strong sense of place. The interior draws on Manchester's industrial heritage and creative identity, with the honeycomb lighting feature becoming a signature element of the scheme — an eye-catching focal point that speaks to the city's craft and character. Exposed material finishes, bold graphics, and considered contemporary lighting work in concert to create a retail environment that feels distinctly Mancunian, yet entirely at home within a premium international terminal setting.
Delivering retail design within a major airport transformation requires more than technical competency — it demands an understanding of landlord strategy, passenger flow, brand standards, and programme pressures all at once. We navigated each of these with precision, ensuring the project was delivered on time, on standard, and to a quality that contributed meaningfully to the wider Terminal 2 experience.
The result is a store that has already drawn national industry recognition as part of WHSmith's expansion across the North — a scheme we are proud to have been a pivotal part of delivering