Blandsville, devoid of imagination and variety, ' we do things differently here'..do we bollocks.
Manchester’s Changing Skyline
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supercity88
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The majority of these residential towers are a result of the Housing Investment Fund which are helping developers secure funding and have been instrumental in seeing the delivery of much needed new housing. We've got a huge student population with a number staying after graduating thanks to employment opportunities and a lower cost of living than London, but there's a limit to the value they're getting back.
You're going to need some higher income investors to justify spending more on the design of the building. And that will take time. The shard has office space, top end hotels and restaurants/bars. I don't think it will be long before there's interest in the top end market and we'll see something a bit more artistic. Only takes one or two to transform the skyline.
Churchlawtonblue
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Great points.
I know we have clarified this before, but just for record keeping, when you say cheap you don't mean Actually cheap, yes. It is such an odd word to use for the point you keep making (not necessarily challenging the point itself note), which imo makes an otherwise arguable point come across as typically flippantly ignorant. Which we have established is not.
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Is that the case, do these funds apply to private housing builds?
Churchlawtonblue
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I supose what I mean by cheap is that the design is essentially already there, which you are just reusing.
I know, you have clarifed that to me before. I was really just reiterating.
When people often describe buildings as 'cheap boxes', that are anything but cheap, I tend to instantly dismiss those comments. Most often they are as pointless as they are clueless. Ugly, boring, lifeless, joyless, passe, etc etc, that's very different. That's a take and an opinion.
It is the word itself, more than the point. I get how you are applying it and what it means in the context you are using it, but there is of course a higher chance of it being taken as meaning literally cheap. Which none of those are, nor should that particularly matter that much imo.
jimharri
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jimharri
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That picture brings back memories. When dad retired (he worked at the Direct Works department for years), he got a job working on the Central Station site when it was being renovated. Nothing too sophisticated, just general labouring. But he loved it. That would have been around 1979 - 82.
Does anyone know if the Direct Works dept is still operating?
I accept what you are saying to a point. But as I’ve already explained, building boxed towers, rectangles, etc is cheaper than building a Shard.
The returns and profits for property developers in regional cities are much less than for property developers in London, where they can build a Shard and still make a healthy profit.
TBF, there are different shaped towers that have been built, are being built, and are being proposed in Manchester. The Blade, Three60, Vista River Gardens, St Michael’s, Contour, Viadux2, etc.
If you look at the Canary Wharf, London, skyline, it’s full of boxed towers.
London (Canary Wharf), UK, 2016 vs 2024
Renaker haven’t done one these construction update videos for quite a while. Renaker used to do them quite often for the New Jackson Street towers. It’s good to see the videos back again.