MIPIM 2016: Manchester must learn fast if it is to cope with a rash of skyscraper plans. So says Sam Wallis, head of the new Manchester office of GIA. The firm has advised on a host of London’s skyscrapers, including the Shard.
“In London you have protected views and vistas, and you look regularly at how solar glare affects bus and train or tram drivers – but not in Manchester. The city needs to make sure these big buildings interact with each other, which means issues such as daylight and overshadowing need to be part of the planning process.”
You can’t turn around in Manchester these days without walking into a potential skyscraper development site. Just a few weeks ago, Apache Capital put up the money for the £128m Angel Gardens scheme in the city’s northern fringe, a joint venture with Moda Living. The 34-storey private rented sector (PRS) scheme joins a long list of plans at various stages.
Today, with some developers and some locations untested, construction costs rising and land prices soaring to £4m-£5m an acre in city fringe locations, the question on many observers’ minds is: will any of them get built?
