The building is progressing well
How Construction sites featured in previous articles have progressed.
The time frame is mostly from July 2021 to October 2022. It's amazing how quickly they can put up buildings these days, but that's nothing new. New York's
Empire State building was constructed in record time. Do you know how many months? I find these 'then and now' juxtapositions of construction sites visually fascinating and I hope you do too. This is Mayfield, once a railway station and just next to it on former industrial ground, a new park is under construction, Mayfield Park. It opened on the 22nd of September 2022 here we can see people walking into the park along by the river Medlock.
It's the only park I know that's currently guarded by security personnel. Construction workers toiled to transform this rubble-strewn patch of land into the city centre’s first public park in a hundred years. I’ll feature it in more detail in another article. Ancoats, once an area on the wrong side of town, a place of factories and slum dwellings. Today upmarket hotels and residences are under construction. This is the Leonardo hotel, captured on the 18th of July 2021. The main shell of the building has appeared. The exterior cladding and balconies still need to be added.
This innovatively designed hotel with its cream facade has balconies with plants. It looks like one of my childhood Lego constructions and that’s a meant to be a compliment. The remains of the former Ancoats Dispensary or Ancoats Hospital were in 2021 covered in scaffolding. 15 months later much of the scaffolding has been removed, revealing the interior walls and windows of the facade. Let’s check to see how it looked in 2005. Much of the buiding had survived, but after that, things deteriorated and it was almost lost. A friends group worked hard to save it with the aim of turning it into a centre for the local community. In the end it was decided what remains of the façade will be restored and incorporated into a development of affordable homes named The Dispensary.
The twin concrete cores of Four Angel Square rise up near Victoria Station. After 15 months another new Manchester landmark has become a reality, with its distinctive pivoted design. The top section at an angle to the building below - difficult to achieve with Lego bricks! It's possible to construct buildings remarkably quickly nowadays but I remember my dad telling me about how he witnessed the Empire State being built in the early 1930s. That only took 20 months. But as the city transforms, let’s not forget what was there before. On this corner stood The Ducie Bridge Pub and adjoining houses. Was it right to demolish them, or should they have been incorporated into the new development? On Corporation Street, the concrete cores of another building have appeared next to. Victoria Station.
It's New Victoria. This is how it looked 15 months later. A massive new building, virtually complete.
I couldn't have imagined how a huge
Structure like this could appear on a narrow strip of land next to victoria station and so quickly.
This is a new building for the Manchester College in its final stage of construction in 2021. October 2022, the plush, dark coloured low-rise building is open for students. It stands on the former Strangeways Brewery site. The transition here from making beer to training minds.
A few steps along Trinity Way and we are confronted with the shell of a part-finished tower. This is how it looked in 2021 and today? No change. Construction is still paused, as the developer hit financial and other problems. So what's the plan? Will this building ever be completed or will it be demolished? But what's that sleek tower that's suddenly appeared on the left? That's one of the three Renaker towers, part of the Colliers Yard development in Greengate. This is how the remains of Collier Street Baths looked in 2021. This Grade II listed structure has been under scaffolding for years, but in 2022 renovation is finally going ahead. It's part of the Colliers Yard development. And for the record, here's how the facade looked in 2015.
I'll revisit when the renovation is complete. Now we look back across Trinity Way to these three concrete cores with sloping tops. This is part of the Uptown Riverside development next to the. Irwell. We can see how the dark coloured cladding is being fixed onto the exterior. When buildings are under construction, they're often purple. That's the colour of the insulation panels. I often think it would be nice if the finished building was purple, but this one has finished up a shiny black, another reminder of those buildings I made as a child with my lego bricks.
A little further on, Manchester's biggest creative industries construction project in years, Factory International, in July 2021 well advanced after a few years of construction. In late 2022, the futuristic face of Factory International is assuming is final form. It does actually look like a face, doesn't it? The centre is set to be completed in 2023. But look over to the right, a new tall building has appeared next to the Elizabeth Tower, that's the one with its stepped roof. Let's go round to Hulme roundabout and take a closer look. July 2021 the tall, slim Elizabeth Tower is complete, and to its right a crane has appeared. 15 months on, two new buildings are under construction: the Blade with its curved glass exterior, taking shape, though not as quickly as the Empire. State.
Its sister building Three60 has already reached about 20 storeys. Let's move in closer. In April 2022, The Blade has reached about 24 storeys, Three60 has completed 6 storeys. Six months later, the Blade has nearly reached its full height, Three60 has stacked up around 23 floors. Both buildings are 52 storeys, almost as tall as Blackpool Tower, both 154 metres or 505 feet. We'll take a look from next to the Mancunian Way by the Hulme footbridge. The stub of the circular tower has grown taller and taller. It won't be long until people are moving in.
That should be 2024. It's quite remarkable how quickly Manchester is changing, and there are scores more buildings like these to be built around the city, a pace matched by only one other city on this island: London. Now we're standing on Hulme Bridge looking west along the Mancunian. Way. For me there are shades of Dubai and the skyscrapers along Sheikh Zayed Road, which I drove up and down many times in the 90s when I taught English in the Emirates. Now we are underneath the Mancunian way looking at site of the new building for. Manchester Metropolitan University. In September 2021 construction had only just started.
One month and one year later, work on the building is progressing well. I have never seen so many construction sites in and around Manchester, each one progressing slowly and imperceptibly each day. I'll be back when this one complete. Now we are in Albert Square. Renovation work on the town hall has been progressing for some time. 13 months later, what has happened? No more traffic! The square has gone from being partially to fully pedestrianised. Did you know that I use these articles my online classes with English language students from overseas, many of whom come to study and work in Manchester and are interested in the history and development of the city. A PDF script of each article is available in English, German and other languages, but only for my students.
I hope you found this article educational, maybe even inspiring.