IMAGES + VIDEO | Tallest tower outside London tops out

Manchester’s new tallest building, the South Tower within Renaker’s Deansgate Square cluster, has reached its highest point, at 200.5 metres or 67 storeys.

Designed by SimpsonHaugh, South Tower contains 496 apartments, and is the second building to reach full height at the site, which was formerly known as Owen Street. The first tower to top out was West Tower, at 47 storeys.

Construction of a third building is also under way. When complete, Deansgate Square will be made up of four buildings, totalling 1,500 homes.

A topping out ceremony was held yesterday to celebrate South Tower reaching its full height. It is now the fifth tallest building in the UK, and all the others are in London.

View Of City

View across Manchester from top of South Tower

By comparison, Beetham Tower, which for several years held the crown as Manchester’s tallest building, is 169 metres tall.

Renaker’s chief executive Daren Whitaker invited Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese to place the final concrete into the top of the structure.

At the ceremony, Whitaker said: “Deansgate Square is a ground-breaking development bringing new levels of sophistication and unrivalled residents’ facilities to the heart of Manchester city centre.

“The topping out of the South Tower is a significant moment on this project – which, when completed, will deliver over 2.3 million sq ft of aspirational new real estate.”

The four towers range in height from 38 to 67 storeys.

Deansgate Square will also incorporate 2.7 acres of public realm and landscaping including a riverside plaza and a 0.8-acre public square for markets or event space supported by 16,000 sq ft food and retail units. The whole development is set to complete in 2021.

View a timelapse of the construction of South Tower from 1 min 18 in the below video

 

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Monstrosity

By Kev

Impressive building, a real paradox with the homeless children living on the streets in Manchester and other towns on the TV last night, maybe not so much money should be allocated for S106 schemes,but could be for more shelters and care for our vunerable young people?

By Just saying

brilliant

By Anonymous

Love it! Especially the reflections and colour changes on the facade at various times of the day. Fantastic addition to the skyline

By Steve

Quote – “Deansgate Square will be made up of four buildings, totalling 1,500 homes” these will not be “Homes”, these are Apartments or Flats if you will. A home is somewhere someone brings up a family in my mind…nice looking building though, I wonder how may will be made “affordable” and when will the local infrastructure completely fail due to over development??

I also wonder what is meant by “New levels of Sophistication”…. I love the recent marketing spiel in town…..lets be brutal –

“New Flats, close to city centre, buy now before the bubble bursts!”

By CRYscrapercity

Probably the most significant development in Manchester for years – will change the city for ever and in my opinion the better.

By coolmanc

bland

By Anonymous

CRYscrapercity, what an idiotic comment. I live in an apartment on my own…so that doesn’t make my apartment a home? It is well and truly my home! There are many people living in apartments across Europe that bring up children in them too and I’m sure thye consider it a home.

By Steve

Grim Central

By tres

Looks like a council estate, what a horrible way to live. As if Hulme wasn’t bad enough.

By PDM

I’d hazard a guess that a number of individual berating this scheme have never lived in a high rise, nor the center of a major city for that matter. You can’t house 1,500 people in semi detached dwellings in the middle of Manchester! Different strokes for different folks.

By 4thought

Quite like this, though they could have varied the design between the 4, makes it pretty monotonous. Much better than beetham though which this now makes look already dated. As its no longer the tallest can they take the stupid noisey fin off the top?

By LionelRichTea

PDM obviously does not remember Hulme if he or she thinks that this is worse. Anyone would think that Manchester was Vienna the way some people create on here. What exactly are these tall structures spoiling on the edge of a ring road? They are not ruining the view of the Taj Mahal are they!

By Anonymous

Is this 100% PRS?

By Alan

PDM…What’s wrong with Hulme? I go there on a regular basis and it seems fine to me.

By coolmanc

No Alan, it is a mixture of PRS and private sale across the four buildings.

By Anon

Don’t know if they’ve noticed but the sides aren’t straight – better peg and string clearly required when setting out the footings.

By jove I think she's got it

CRYscrapercity – Are you really suggesting that only people with children can call their dwelling a home??

By Anonymous

It would almost be worth living in high rise shoe box like this just to avoid the horrendous experience of driving around Manchester these days.

By Sue Denim

@coolmanc, are you serious? it’s notorious, and it’s next to Moss Side. Avoid at all costs.

By PDM

bit boring but theyre alright…average in every way but size imo.

By Anonymous

Also be safe from all the crime ridden streets when you are stuck up in the air, is this the new crime prevention scheme from Andy?

By Survivor

I wonder if anything that happens in Manchester would get even a ‘yeah ok I suppose’ from PDM? Hulme is a success story and Moss Side isn’t that bad nowadays. It’s no longer 1991 PDM, let it go.

By Loganberry

in reply to comments about my post, I would not want to bring up a family in these flats. As I said “in my mind” a home is where you bring a family up, an apartment in Manchester is not somewhere I would consider to be a Home, no garden, no drive, no amenity space to call my own and probably nowhere near large enough for 2 adults and 2 kids (if that’s a “Typical” family). It’s just my opinion. A Flat to me is a rented stop gap, before I move on to somewhere else (I know I will get flamed for this!!!!) Everyone has their own opinion and that’s Mine!

By CRYscrapercity

Wooowwww Manchester well done. You have now ruined London’s chance of hving Englands tallest residential. As a supporter of London, I am dissapointed.

By Heidelbergfan HDHS

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