Construction boom
We fly north to Manchester city centre,
And we have an eagle-eye view high above hulme roundabout.
We swoop down, narrowly missing the Elizabeth Tower.
That’s the former Central Station in the centre, Beetham to the left, Axis Tower to the right and we are just passing close to Deansgate Square West Tower. A new companion for the Beetham is being built
This is how the site looked before construction. The building stands on the site of tracks that lead out of Central Station which closed in 1969. I took a photo - on film of course - from that spot in 1982 when the station was standing derelict. The Beetham was completed in 2007.
15 years later, a new companion is here, a project of developer Salboy, which was co-founded by billionaire bookmaker Fred Done. Like the Beetham, this building stands on former railway property that went out of use over 50 years ago. Metrolink trams continue the story of moving people on rails, though the lines now lead down into the city, rather than terminating in the former Central Station. The address of Viadux is Great Bridgewater Street. I'm glad to see visuals on the edge of the site: "redefining central Manchester, work from home, 240,000 square feet of office space. This is how it will look seen from Lower Mosley Street next to the Bridgewater Hall and this is how it looks at the moment. Viadux includes a 40-storey tower, designed by SimpsonHaugh architects. It will be 138 metres (455 ft) tall.
The tram is passing a very striking landmark, which has been there for some time now actually, I’ve not featured it before. So what is this finely detailed tower? It's called the Tower of Light and rises around 40 m above street level. It’s certainly a majestic structure, perhaps looking a little out of place in this part of Manchester. Standing out against the blue sky, it almost looks like a building, though scaled down a few times. Could this be a blueprint for a future residential tower, not so much a plain glass box, more an intricate organic structure. The Tower of Light and Wall of Energy were designed by architects Tonkin Liu. Through the glazed wall, we can see the inside of the energy centre, which provides heat for a low-carbon district heating system. Gases escape via flues inside the attractively designed tower.
The sign informs us that the Manchester Civic water heater network is helping Manchester to be carbon-neutral by 2038. Let’s continue along Lower Mosley Street further north into the city centre, past this interesting green building which looks great in the sunlight. This is Windmill. Green, said to be Manchester's most sustainable building. It was converted from this building, which I caught in my Mega-Photo in 2006. Let's return to the eagle-eye Google Earth view looking down onto the next construction site as it looked a couple of years ago, when the former Bootle Street police station building was still standing. It’s on a rectangular site with a distinctive white façade on the east-facing side. The police moved out and I remember hearing there were plans to turn the building into a hotel which seemed to make sense.
Then further details emerged. The magnificent, 1930s-style white façade and the Abercromby pub were to have been demolished. After a public outcry, it was decided they would be retained.
A new tower was designed by Hodder
And partners to replace.
Make Architects' 'twin tombstones'. The site stood empty for several years but now it's going ahead. A structure has started to appear on the right. Here on the corner on Jackson Street is the.
Reform Synagogue opened in 1953. The developers offered to construct a new synagogue inside the development but the community decided to move elsewhere. After 70 years, it will be demolished. But the old police station façade will be integrated into the new development, which will have shops, restaurants, office, apartments and a 134.5 (441 ft) metre high tower. There is some controversy as the tower stands close to Albert Square. Will it cast a shadow onto the town hall? Keep watching Aidaneyewitness. Behind the St Michael's project is footballer Gary Neville. And let's not forget that if people hadn’t signed petitions and made their views felt, the developers could have torn down this façade.
Now we fly above the Friends Meeting House and Central Library roof to Saint Peters Square. We are going to head back down Lower Mosley Street along the tram tracks towards the Tower of light. The trams climb up the ramp to Deansgate-Castlefield tram stop and we can see how tall buildings have now filled the sky as we look down Lower Mosley. Street. On the left is the Bridgewater Hall, on the right, the former Central Station, now Manchester Central. Further down on the left next to Viadux is Axis Tower, completed 2019. We are on Whitworth Street Street West, where another project is awaiting construction. There are plenty of visualisations so we can see what it is going to happen here on this narrow site.
A tall, narrow tower will appear. Vision Manchester, a new vision for. Manchester for Manchester, elevated living, with fitness centre, a cinema, and communal areas. In this aerial photo, we can see the new building on the right and in the centre, Viadux in its early stages. Great shot probably taken from a drone, with the computer visualisation of the new tower pasted into it. This is just across the street from Deansgate Locks, which was the first project to make use of the old arches in the Central Station undercroft. It was completed in 2000. Right above it the Hilton and Viadux, and just on the corner, the Hacienda building and I can’t resist superimposing my shot of the original Hacienda, taken in 1998.
It's such a shame it was demolished. From Deansgate Castlefield station we can see the view of the succession of tall buildings which have appeared in this part of Manchester City centre over the past few years, but we are now going to return to the eagle eye view to survey our final construction project. As we move over Princess Road, the Mancunian Way is crossing in front of us on the right of the student residences designed by SimpsonHaugh, and this is how this site looked a few years ago, one of many former industrial sites, the buildings had long since been demolished. There are some older surviving buildings, including the Macintosh India rubber works, now converted into apartments. So what have we here? Another major building development. This is First Street co-living, a large new residential development spread over four buildings ranging from 10 to 45 storeys. The developer is Liverpool-based Downing, architects, SimpsonHaugh. Once a maze of streets, workshops and factories housed in ramshackle brick buildings, now it is the site of 21st-century towers, home of people who are enjoying a radically different lifestyle to those who populated this area in the past.
Let's not forget how things were. That brings to a close another of my small snapshots of what’s happening all around the city centre. I’ll be returning to another area soon.