Every since the first day I could hold a Crayola in my mitts I have loved to doodle. My Grandma’s fridge was my gallery and while the other kids wanted to be doctors or police(wo)man I dreamed of becoming a world renowned artist – year’s before I knew the names Picasso, Hockey, Warhol and the like.

Today, despite the day job, there still a piece of me that has lofty ambitions of reaching the artistic heights of some of my paint brush wielding heroes (okay so what I lack in talent I make up for in hope). However luckily for me I have the pleasure of living in a city of creative innovation that knows no bounds – Manchester.

In the years since my Gran’s fridge I have become a worshiper of not only of art but of fantastic design. Be it the beautiful, the bold or just the plain functional – that’s where the A57(M) comes in.

Basking in the sunshine (yes it can happy in Manchester occasionally) I was taking a wander near to the Sackville campus of the University of Manchester and came across this plaque. Curious to know more I hit the oracle of Google to discover ‘the highway in the sky’ was the first winner of the Concrete Society Award in 1968. And Manchester has been leading the way when it comes to concrete ever since with other winners including the Manchester Art Gallery and most recently the iconic Beetham Tower in 2007.

So for doing it the The Mancunian Way for over thirty years (and the rest) this blog is dedicated to design be it the good, the bad and the ugly that I encounter in Greater Manchester.