MANCHESTER's cityscape is surging skywards at a staggering rate. But then, you already know that, surely you've spotted the blinking crane lights, felt the rumble of the dumper trucks and heard the clink, clank clunk of progess.
Confidential has envisaged how Manchester may look in the future, should all the proposed schemes be realised
Driven by the highest levels of property investment outside London, construction in the city has recently returned to pre-recession levels, with under-construction projects almost double that of last year.*
But with news of lofty new developments becoming an almost weekly occurrence, it’s easy to lose track of what's on the horizon.
So what would Manchester’s skyline actually look like should all planned skyscrapers be built?
It's a question we first posed ourselves little under a year ago, with some fascinating results.
Since then there's been multiple new schemes and skyscrapers pass through the city planner's office, from Renaker's 64-storey Owen Street tower to 10-12 Whitworth Street and a flurry of development in Salford's Greengate.
So, with the help of trainee city planner and Manchester property boffin, Ed Howe, along with some nifty 3D modelling software, Confidential has produced twenty striking visualizations of how the city could look, should all proposed schemes (see below) get the green light.
Where the city's new towers are being builtBelow we’ve listed, in height order, all towers (over 75m) either proposed, approved, under construction or completed in Manchester (those in bold either already exist or are close to completion):
Owen St (201.5m); Beetham Tower (169m); St John’s Place (165m); Owen St 2 (158m); Trinity Fields 1 (152m); Owen St 3 (141m); St John’s Tower 2 (132m); Exchange Court (130m); River St Tower (125m); Owen St 4 (122m); CIS Tower (108m); 10-12 Whitworth St (117m); Affinity Tower 1 (110.35m); The Residence (110.3m); St John’s Tower 3 (109m); City Tower (107m); Embankment West Tower 1 (107m); New Wakefield St (106m); Angel Gardens (106m); Oxygen Tower (103m); Trinity Fields 2 (100m); Trinity Fields 3 (96m); Axis (93m); Middlewood Locks Plot I (93m); No. 1 Spinningfields (92m); Arndale Tower (90m); One Greengate (88m); Town Hall (87m); X1 MediaCity (86m); Cambridge St (83m); Trinity Fields 4 (83m); St John’s Tower 4 (83m); St John’s Tower 5 (83m); Embankment West Tower 2 (83m); Water St (82m); Manchester One/Portland Tower (80m); CJC (80m); Astley & Byrom House (77m); 3 Hardman St (75m).
Of course, some of these projects won't happen, but many will. So let's dream of future Manchester, a city of imposing loftiness, ‘sky garden’ living and graphene lightbulbs.
MANCHESTER'S CURRENT SKYLINE...
...from Ordsall
...from Exchange Quay, Salford
...from Hulme
...from the rail line to Liverpool
...from Salford University
...from the M602
...from The Crescent, Salford
...from Cheetham Hill
...from Victoria Station
...from Broughton
...from above the Ordsall Chord
...from Princess Road, Moss Side
...from Hulme
...from Mancunian Way
...from Moss Side
...from Cornbrook
...from Britannia Airport Hotel
...from Castlefield
...from St George's Island
...from Strangeways* according to Deloitte’s 2016 Manchester Crane Survey.
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