Manchester's High-Rise Renaissance

Albany Crown Tower

During those heady-days of 2000s Britain, the city of Manchester looked set to acquire its own truly world class skyline. Almost-daily, the city’s architectural aficionados and anoraks were treated to exciting renders of bold, sleek, and tall skyscrapers which looked set to transform the skyline and put Manchester back on the architectural map. By far the most significant proposed development for the city was the ill-fated Piccadilly Tower, a 168m residential skyscraper expected to cost £220 million which would have been the tallest residential construction in Europe. The plans for the project captured and conveyed the spirit of noughties-Manchester; the city was back on the rise, ready to assume the status ‘world-city’ once again, and well-placed to compete with any European metropolis - including London. As an ambitious and breath-taking architectural proposal, Piccadilly Tower was by no means alone. In addition to the more celebrious project, the city saw plans for the 125m Chapel Wharf Tower in 2005, and was in the same year treated to renders for the neomodern 160m Albany Crown Tower. Though the recession precluded developers from breaking-ground on either of these projects, Manchester’s skyline was somewhat transformed with the topping-out of the 157m Beetham Tower in 2006 – a skyscraper which subsequently earned the title of Best Tall Building in the World, 2007. 

Piccadilly Tower

Reflecting on what could-have-been in 00s Manchester is a depressing business, and one that invites plenty of what-if questions. One thing we can be fairly sure of is that if catastrophe had hit the banking and construction sectors only a few years later, the city would now be home to seven or eight +100m skyscrapers, making the drive in to Manchester as visually pleasurable as the drive in to any major American city. But while we may have missed out on several world-class talls due to financial instability, construction in the city didn’t stop between 2008-12. The tall, but truly dreadful, 17 New Wakefield Street was completed in 2012, bringing with it yet more shades of grey to the Manchester’s architectural smorgasbord. And while we saw the erection of 3 Hardman Street and One Angel Square in 2009 and 2012 respectively, neither of these aesthetically-pleasing projects has made a dent in the skyline. Other noughties-developments like the Peninsula Building in the Green Quarter and internationally-renowned Civil Justice Center in Spinningfields are fairly tall, but both pale in comparison to the numerous skyscrapers we were promised pre-recession.

17 New Wakefield on a good day.

That Manchester lacks a distinctive and tall skyline is, however, somewhat perplexing. The city itself is currently home to four buildings over 100m tall, another seven which stand at over 70m, and a plethora of +60m buildings – it isn’t a low-rise city, and neither is neighbouring Salford. But therein lies the problem. At present, Manchester is ultimately a mid-rise city, and a particularly dense one at that. It takes an awful lot for a building to rise-up out of the densely-packed cityscape; Beetham Tower, at 157m, is the only one that can confidently look down over the mid-rise metropolis with any real majesty. For now at least, it seems that we must content ourselves with admiring the city’s many architecturally-important, but ultimately low-rise buildings, as well as the handful of genuinely tall towers that were constructed before the slowdown in 2008.

But, before we allow ourselves to become too morose, it seems that things might be about to change. Over the last year there have been plenty of signs that Manchester may in fact acquire the kind of skyline many coveted in the noughties – but the key word is may. The most exciting and realistic proposed project is Deansgate’s Axis Tower. Though it will only stand at 68m, its neomodern and elegant style will complement Beetham and the Great Northern Tower – Manchester may get its first genuinely-tall cluster, particularly if ground is eventually broken on the 18 storey Pillo Hotel on Whitworth Street West. But we shouldn’t be too quick to get our hopes up – Axis is still on hold even after a new development team took over the project in 2012. That being said, the foundations are complete and construction could, at least in theory, start any day now.

No.1 Spinningfields

One of the taller proposed projects is No.1 Spinningfields, a 20 floor skyscraper set to complete the hugely-successful Spinningfields development. According to most of the city’s architectural-observers, this one should go ahead – it’s an Ian Simpson design and Allied London seem keen to add some height to Spinningfields. If No.1 Spinningfields were to be followed by the construction of the 75m Byrom & Astely House, we could have another impressive cluster in the heart of the city. Less-realistic is the proposed 125m River Street Tower, also designed by Ian Simpson architects. The elegant and soaring structure would be a most welcome addition to the skyline as well as a huge vote of confidence in Manchester’s economy. Sadly, though, after gaining approval in October 2012 work has yet to begin.

But Greater Manchester’s high-rise renaissance exists not only in architectural-visions and computer-generated renderings. Ground has already been broken on the mighty One Greengate development which sits in Salford, not far from the Cathedral. One Greengate will top-out at 88m and is currently the tallest building under construction in UK outside of London. At street level, this building will be imposing and should look tall, but the development’s positioning on low ground next to the river bank will prevent it from meaningfully impacting the skyline. But Greengate isn’t significant because of it’s aesthetics - the project represents the regeneration of an area and perhaps the renewal of the cityscape. One Greengate has demonstrated that developers are prepared to build up outside of the capital. While other British cities may be left to dream about acquiring a distinctive skyline, Manchester’s hopes seem to be far more realistic. Even if only 20% of the proposed high-rises eventually get built, Manchester will see the construction of at least two or three new 80m+ buildings – of which some may even be genuine skyscrapers. That the city’s current talls are nicely spread out in important parts of the city suggests that if we start to see the construction of new high-rises we should start to see the formation of clusters – and because of Manchester’s density, clustering will be essential if we are to gain a memorable and impressive skyline.

Render of One Greengate

No one can say with any certainty whether Manchester will get the kind of skyline that many of us long for, but the next two years could be very exciting for the city’s architectural-aficionados and lovers of tall buildings. While we must tentatively wait for constructions to get off the ground, one thing is for sure: we haven’t had this much to be excited about since those heady-days of pre-recession naivety.