But when does it reach saturation point? Yes building more apartments is good for the construction industry but how many apartments are lying unoccupied? And in 3 years when they are all built where do the construction workers find employment?The new buildings provide jobs, new homes and a young and educated population that businesses need to thrive and expand. Spinningfields has improved, Ancoats and next is Deansgate Square. I don't doubt there are issues within the city but investment and jobs and new homes surely cant be a bad thing?
Birmingham is a having a smaller tower boom.
Leeds and Liverpool are putting up a couple of towers.
No other regional city comes close to the towers going up in Manchester.
There are plenty of other towers proposed that will start next year and beyond. The tower boom is far from over. PRS is huge in Manchester. Many of the PRS towers recently built are doing really well.
Why Manchester? Plenty of reasons. A very proactive city council that works with property developers. Manchester has some big property developers based in the city. Renaker, Bruntwood, Peel Holdings, Allied London, Ask, etc. Manchester is second only London for 1000’s of new tech and IT jobs, attracting young people to the city. A massive student population. Inward and foreign investment is pouring into the city. So are property investors due to the low pound. Etc.
The GNW is being redeveloped into offices, different leisure’s uses, and a possible tower at a later stage.
The retail to leisure has already started. The Corn Exchange being the obvious example. Spinningfields is an example where retail has failed. King Street is now retail and restaurants. Manchester’s retail core is defined around the Arndale, St Anne’s Square, and King Street. Bar the odd expansion in any direction, I can’t see the retail core expanding any further. It’s all leisure, leisure, and more leisure. Bars, Restaurants, etc are opening up all over the city centre.
Deansgate will get busier and busier once Deansgate Square, Elizabeth and Victoria, 2-4 Chester Road, Transition, and when other towers and Apartment blocks are built on the Great Jackson Street site.
In a nutshell, Manchester is booming and there is no sign that the boom is slowing down. :-)
And when these young professionals settle down, have children and don’t want to be cooped up in a flat, and want access to good schools etc where are they going to move to?
But when does it reach saturation point? Yes building more apartments is good for the construction industry but how many apartments are lying unoccupied? And in 3 years when they are all built where do the construction workers find employment?
Schools are being built in the City centre and many of the flats are 3 beds these days are larger than average semi detached houses. A lot of people don't want to move out.
That skyline is crazy.
Do you know are skyscrapers a Manchester thing or is this happening in other regional cities too?
I have a feeling the property boom in pretty much a London and Manchester thing? Why Manchester? I can think of the Unis as one big factor. Any others?
Do you have a feel for the pipeline of future developments? I've seen them come in phases before. Are there a lot more plans in the pipeline?
I have noticed at night that some of the Deansgate Square towers are now lit up with lots of flat occupied and yet Deansgate at that end is still dead traffic-wise. I wonder what the impact of an increased City centre population will be in terms of traffic, and leisure, services, etc. I use Great Northern Warehouse a lot and it always seems deserted and I wonder how the shops and businesses survive. There must be quite a few City centre businesses who are hoping that Deansgate Square will bring them more traffic. I have a feeling that although the City centre population is growing exponentially, the shoppers are declining exponentially. I suspect that there will be a big transfer from traditional retail to bars, restaurants, hotel and leisure.
So what you’re saying is there is no where for them to move.
On the whole Manchester looks to be booming. The X1 The Plaza apartment development on Every Street, close to Great Ancoats Street seems to have stalled. I wonder if there are other smaller scale developments in the East Manchester area that are on hold due to developers falling into financial trouble or them having issues with their subcontractors?