5 CONTROVERSIAL PROJECTS | 1 Major Criticism | Manchester Building Boom

[@ians3586]

You make an excellent point about visualizations. Almost any project looks good from the air, lit up, in the twilight. However, as you say, our interactions with buildings are typically at street level and during the day. The public that are impacted by these developments need to see visualizations from different angles. I like how you end the video. With those visualizations, what adjectives come to mind? Are they ones that will enhance the aesthetic of the city?

[@AidanEyewitness]

Well the final view of New Victoria is the actual view from the west side, not a visualisation. There should be a detailed 3D computer model of the city. Every proposal should be rendered as a 3D model and inserted into the big model which should be accessible to anyone online. Like Google Earth but better quality and just for Manchester. Then the public can scrutinise it (or scrutinize!) and give their thumbs up or otherwise.

[@JohnnyZenith]

Manchester HS2 station should be under construction now. Ridiculous. Should also run underground. The lack of social apartments and affordable housing is terrible. The Gary Neville St Michaels construction is fantastic. I hope that corner building goes ahead. High rise is necessary now Piccadilly Gardens plans will be unveiled next year.

[@AidanEyewitness]

Thanks for the info and… at last… some positive comments! The whole railway development in the city that helped create railways is very disappointing, though the Victorian railway builders didn’t always get it right.

[@paulwild3676]

I like that building next to Reedham House too. I also think bulldozing the synagogue is a mistake. That building repointed and the steps and handrails modernised could be special. I am not sure what it could be used for but it is worth saving.

[@AidanEyewitness]

Well we may agree or disagree but the powers lie with the council and the building owners. Many of their decisions work out okay, some don't. Many thanks!

[@mrstandfast2212]

I remember working in the city centre in the early 1980's, and to be frank it was dirty hovel of a place. It did however, have a pulse and character. Piccadilly Gardens were full of drunks on the grass and starlings in the trees, and you walked under those trees at your peril. Now, much of Manchester is a glittering glass citadel and almost unrecognisable. This may be progress, but the place no longer has any soul. These high rise blocks are dystopian, faceless places, not built to a human scale. They strike me as homes for drones, not humans with all their variety and individuality. Their look is hard and cold, with no sense of connection to the beautiful buildings of the past. They are the work of hubristic developers, determined to wring the last possible penny of profit from every square foot. I'm sure a psychologist could comment on the 'who's got the biggest d**k' aspect to all of this. Has nobody learnt anything from the tower blocks of the 1960's? Just because they're shiny and full of gadgetry, doesn't make them more human. The worst aspect however, is the fact that so many of these locations are cheek by jowl with dereliction. Maybe they're just awaiting their turn to become more shiny big d**ks.

[@DonAl_Capone]

Bs like u said Manchester was a shithole now it’s becoming a world class city. Your perspective is from the past generation, the newer gen love it - as shown by the amount of ppl who continue to live in Manchester after uni. Also, it’s great for Man Utd 😁

[@AidanEyewitness]

A very well written and thought-provoking comment! Many people share your views. Again, I ask, is there a city that has done it right? If so I would like to visit and make a video entitled “What can Manchester learn from -- city?”

[@mrstandfast2212]

@@AidanEyewitness Thank you for taking the time to reply. I hope my choice of metaphors weren't too impolite. You pose the question, “What can Manchester learn from -- city?” In truth, I honestly don't know. I have no problem with modernisation, in fact I believe it to be a better alternative to stagnation and decay. I have no wish to see Manchester remain as a museum, and I'm glad that life has returned to the city centre. It's simply the utterly predictable cut and paste banality of these buildings which depresses me. They are homogenous to the point of hardly differing from one another at all. Looking across the Manchester skyline, I could be looking at - well just about any major city in the world. Manchester was a city built upon innovation, and most of what we have and know was from the Victorian age. Those Victorians turned their gaze to classical Greece, or what was, in their imagination, the gothic style. This was cutting edge architecture in it's day, and of course it is now out of date. The difference between then and now are two main aspects. Firstly, they were built on a human scale and secondly, they were built to last. On the question of scale, of course those Victorians loved the grandiose. It could be argued that they were just as proud as todays architects. Proud, but not necessarily hubristic. They built to represent solidity, grandeur and continuity, fully expecting their work to last for generations. As to whether these new buildings will last as long, who knows. Today's architects have access to materials unheard of in former times, so they should have longevity, but I suspect they may not. In reality, they'll be knocking these buildings aside within forty years, when a future generation of architects and developers reject the 'old' buildings of the early 21st century, just as we now sweep aside the 1960's buildings. All this in a time when we are more aware than ever of the value of resources. Note I use the word value and not cost. They are two very different things. If only Manchester had decided to to plough it's own furrow, and not accept these bland, identikit corporate confections. It was an opportunity unparalleled since the Victorian era to make Manchester unique, however it was an opportunity which has been squandered.

[@AidanEyewitness]

@@mrstandfast2212 You raise many issues and you've given me a few ideas such as 'Why are so many new buildings so banal?' 'How do today's architects differ from those of the Victorian period?', 'The secret reason why modern buildings all look the same' (I'll still have to find out what the reason is though!) Many thanks for your contribution.

[@rivierasusan6650]

Leeds city centre is worse. They have shoved these glass faced monstrosities up with no thought as to how they look from groundlevel. They are all of different shape, size and design. A total mess. The ones in Leeds are for our vast student population to 'get them out of HMO's and into the city centre which apparently is where they want to be. It gets them off of public transport and frees up their current accommodation and the 'plan' is that the HMO's will be returned back to homes for families once again. Navigating round Leeds city centre without incurring a fine is difficult, buses do not stop by the train station anymore and there are only a few taxi places. The question 'how do I get to the Infirmary with my elderly disable mum/dad? from ...' crops up regularly. You might as well stay home and shop local or on line. The 15 minute city is definitely here in Leeds!! 😡😡

[@ians3586]

Car parks are excellent sites for new developments, not historic buildings. While it would be a shame, if they do build the building on the Reedham house site, I hope it also includes the demolition of the very ugly concrete parking structure to the right of Reedham House.

[@AidanEyewitness]

Ah yes well I don’t think that’s going to happen. There seems to be an unspoken rule here that multi-storey car parks are always inherently ugly, so it’s not worth trying to apply any design principles to them. Then you go abroad and see lots of very attractive multi-storey car parks. The only exception is the Circle Square car park featured in my Mancunian Way video.

[@ians3586]

While it's atrocious I think if they covered Piccadilly's "Berlin Wall" with greenery it would be much less of an eyesore.

[@AidanEyewitness]

Well I think it would just be patching up a bad job. Both buildings on Piccadilly Gardens should be removed, but unfortunately that’s not going to happen. Yours is a reasonable suggestion though and worth considering.

[@mi......]

I think Simpson has done so much damage in Manchester, his contribution should have ended on Beetham Tower. His lack of imagination is honestly so terrible, he tries to portray himself as this amazing visionary but he comes up with such repetitive and generic designs, it's really painful to watch. One Port Street has no architectural value to it yet it's advertised as this amazing luxurious accomodation, I certainly wouldn't want to live in such an ugly block of flats, the scale of it is so wrong in this area as well. I find it very bizarre that he is so dominant in Manchester, there's so much amazing talent out there

[@AidanEyewitness]

You’ve raised some issues here, but I would say some of his buildings are unusual and creative, for instance Urbis. His company has done many projects in Manchester, there must be a reason. You might not wish to live there but plenty of people do and will pay a fortune for the privilege! Many thanks :)

[@mi......]

@@AidanEyewitness I think you misunderstood my point, I've lived in Manchester for 20 years and watched the city grow over the last two decades. It has such an amazing architectural heritage and I love living here. Yes I do think Urbis and Beetham Tower are both interesting and they deserve their 'landmark' titles but Simpson's newest projects are very poorly designed, they just fill the space, I do not see any 'artistry' that Simpson claims his projects have. He even made a comment himself that this isn't London and that's why his towers look so simple. Deansgate Square I don't mind but I don't get why they came up with four identical towers with different heights, the whole cluster looks so heavy and overwhelming, Vista River Gardens looks like a copy of it as well with almost identical facade, I just don't get why they can't come up with something that looks different and breaks that monotony in the skyline.

[@no15minutecities]

Well said

[@no15minutecities]

@@AidanEyewitness you have just the ONE eye?? A freemason perhaps??

[@English_Dawn]

Thanks Aidan. 1). At a low ebb of the city council, I believe after the closure of Central Station, planned to tarmac-over the Castlefield Viaduct turning it into a road. Could Central Station have suffered the same as Exchange and Oldham Road and the Beetham Tower and Viadux never been built? 2). It is quite clear the developers have their cross-hairs firmly on young professionals, many graduates. The developer of Crown View, due to be constructed near Ducie Bridge unapologetically states that is their target market. UK Plc last peaked in 1870. The Cotton Industry last peaked in 1922. Coal Mining last peaked in 1910. For receipts the last peak was circa 1913. Since then the UK has become the most economically unequal country in the G20. Not too disimlilar to the West Germany and East Germany. (German Democratic Republic). UK is not the manufacturing powerhouse it once was. Mcr is a text book example of that. It is unlikely to be again, with robots and AI doing most. 2). Thank you for turning your attention to Reedham House, when robots definitely did not dominate. As in last week's missive it is hoped 11/12lfths. of the carriage works will survive and be more open to the public. 3). The new terracotta office block at Vic. North stands on the site of the Manchester Arms Hotel which you may remember? I do. Pulled down with the other buildings in the 70's. It had been a Georgian private residence. Corporation St did not exist. From it's back garden James Sadler made his famous balloon ascent, hence Sadler's Yard and Balloon Street. Incidently the balloon actually came down in Whitefield. The 3" granite cubes in Metrolink's formation in Balloon St came from Portugal. The grooved rails from Luxembourg. The bow-spring bridge near Great Bridgewater Street came from Belgium. 4). Ever wondered why Oxford Road Station is made largely of wood? Weight! It lies on the Manchester Fault, from Clifton south eastwards to around Poynton. The London Midland Region Chief Architect and the chap from the Wood Council designed it. It deserves to be better known for it's strength through lamination. Maybe the Refuge Assurance and St. James Building, built by the Callico Association, take most of the glory. There are around 224 arches in the MSJ&A and around 50 million bricks used. It was jointly owned after the Grouping, 100 years ago this year, by the LMS & LNER. In conclusion Mcr is going through considerable social change. Mcr is the 3rd highest city for job creation practically most of them in services. It is the playground, not only, of students and graduates but they are the key dynamic. There are fewer and fewer people with grey hair in the city centre. The new residential raison d'etre are eco-friendly and gymnasiums tailored to the wealthy middle-classes. As, someone who can remember grotty, bleak Manchester, as long as things like the Sir Ralph Abercomby and Reedham House are preserved I can live with the glossy confections. Mcr had become a grafitti-ridden wasteland in many parts with dozens of tatty surface car parks. So almost anything is better than that. Thank you for taking the viewer down the byways. 🙂👍

[@garethwilliams976]

Used Exchange station a lot in my youth. It was a slum after the bombing and needed demolition.

[@AidanEyewitness]

Thanks for all this fantastic information, much of which I didn't know! Alway great to receive your missives!

[@dawnhoward7307]

Have a nosey what is going on at Bolton

[@paulwild3676]

East Germany had a different government from West Germany for decades. We did not. The decimation of the North was caused by Westminster, not by a communist regime based on Deansgate, which succumbed to Westminster in 1989 and reunified England. The treatment of the North and Midlands by our own governments has been nothing short of betrayal. Thatcher had half a trillion pounds worth of revenue from North Sea oil. That money was squandered on tax cuts for the few.

[@nicolasnicolas3218]

Is Manchester the number 2 city having buildings after London?

[@AidanEyewitness]

People say that but I don’t like being number 2 so let’s say Manchester is the number one city outside the capital for new building development! :)

[@nicolasnicolas3218]

@@AidanEyewitness Fair enough 😄

[@paulfrancis8764]

Is it really necessary to demolish Reedham House? I’m disgusted at the level of greed on show. The council are corrupt.

[@AidanEyewitness]

There are alternative scenarios where it could have been kept, but the one presented to the planning committee won the day, and it was a unanimous decision. I think we would need to look at all the details to understand how this happened. Historic England are against it. Here's the entry on their website historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1282988

[@paulfrancis8764]

@@AidanEyewitness Thank you Aidan. I’ll take a look.

[@JohnnyZenith]

Manchester city council are looking to drastically increase the density of living and the population in manchester by 2040. At least double. Doing so creates a more vibrant economy. This is why there are so many towers. I just wish they were more affordable and there was more social. It has nothing to do with corruption.

[@paulfrancis8764]

@@JohnnyZenith Johnny, the industry is absolutely steeped in corruption. You’re being naive.

[@suhailjamil3909]

Wow. Reedham house. I worked there at Freedman Frankl & Taylor (FFT) Chartered accountants from 1999 - 2002. It was my first practice placement after graduating from MMU in 1998. What memories. ❤

[@paulwild3676]

Port Street is crying out to be extended as a high street for the NQ. It could be amazing leading to Great Ancoats Street. Imagine it tastefully built in the same style, as those 18th Century shops, with independent stores and restaurants.

[@AidanEyewitness]

Yes, that's a nice perspective on it, maybe that's how it will turn out, though this development is an upmarket, high-rise thing. We will find out soon enough! Many thanks as ever for your comment.

[@paulwild3676]

@@AidanEyewitness One of the problems with Central Manchester is we don’t have villagey type communities, like they do in Central London. People still lean towards going into town to socialise. Ancoats is a possible exception and maybe the Village. With the city centre spreading, there needs to be an emphasis on creating communities rather than dormitories.

[@AidanEyewitness]

@@paulwild3676 Yes that’s a very valid point about villages and communities. But there a sense of that in places like Didsbury, Chorlton and Levenshulme. More are needed in and around the centre

[@paulwild3676]

@@AidanEyewitness They are not in the centre though. Central Manchester needs sustainable stand alone communities. Castlefield had potential with its water and now the skyline park. St Johns was going to be an inner city village initially but the original plans fell through and now it is just another dreary corporate district. Chapel Street Salford is full of potential. It has everything, great architecture, a park and a high street.

[@dronefootagevideos]

Great Video Aiden! Loved it!

[@AidanEyewitness]

Short but sweet! I like this comment. Many thanks!

[@johnku888]

I actually quite like the New Vic especially when you approach it from Miller St.

[@AidanEyewitness]

Well it certainly looks gleaming and high tech. What constitutes good contemporary architecture is in the eye of the beholder!

[@ians3586]

Another excellent video. I think you deserve the moniker Aidan "The Archivist" O’Rourke, meticulously documenting Manchester's 21st century transformation.

[@AidanEyewitness]

That’s very kind. It’s difficult for one person to keep track of all that is happening in Manchester city centre, but I try!

[@zathraspersonal]

Thanks for another great video and commentary. As an avid fine art architectural photographer you'd think I'd be in favour of this breakneck development push. But I find it depressing in terms of the poverty of imagination which goes into designing these buildings - bang'em up as cheaply as possible and squeeze as much income out of them as possible. They are springing up seemingly in a haphazard way with no real planning. In fact that's the thing - development is taking place but not planning. Manchester is gradually losing all of its character and heritage.

[@AidanEyewitness]

That view is shared by a lot of people, and to an extent by me. They are commercial developments and subject to commercial pressure. Is there a city where they’ve done it right? Thanks for your positive words.

[@anthonyphilips7171]

Thanks for another interesting video. The more I see of the development type, the more I am grateful that I need never go into a city centre again

[@AidanEyewitness]

Well this video highlighted some controversial projects, but there are many great things in the city centre and I still love to go there. Thanks for sharing your thoughts

[@АлмазКарибеков]

👍👍👍👍

[@AidanEyewitness]

Many thanks.

[@paulwild3676]

If anyone wants to take a look at 5th Avenue hotel in New York. I think it looks like St Michael’s. Anyone else agree?

[@AidanEyewitness]

Do you mean this one nearing completion at 250 5th Avenue? I presume you mean the resemblance of the white former police station. Yes, I can see what you mean. newyorkyimby.com/2023/03/fifth-avenue-hotel-nears-completion-at-250-fifth-avenue-in-nomad-manhattan.html

[@paulwild3676]

@@AidanEyewitness Yes.

[@MrTSK27]

Plenty of affordable homes just outside the CBD-MCC....Hulme Broughton etc etc...We do not all need nor want to live in the very centre.

[@AidanEyewitness]

Yes, someone said it would make more sense to focus on building affordable homes outside the city centre in cheaper areas, rather than trying to ask developers to include them. Most of the time, they don't.

[@jacktorrance5616]

15 minute homes of the future All foreign money Chinese and Arab

[@AidanEyewitness]

Thanks for your comment

[@christopherslack924]

Like the merch!

[@AidanEyewitness]

You mean my AidanEyewitness cap? There's only one, the one I'm wearing!

[@kollusion1]

Is Mcr the testing ground for boring, ugly buildings? They all look like cheap versions of the real thing. Maybe Mcr is a second class city, unworthy of style & innovation?

[@ians3586]

Manchester needs Thomas Heatherwick to add some visual interest to the skyline.

[@AidanEyewitness]

He already did but it didn’t end well! Look up B of the Bang!

[@kollusion1]

@@AidanEyewitness kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4DTeKZvr7qip8U I liked it. Wasn't aware of all the spiraling costs though. Shame about the colour, location & the construction.

[@jasongray4517]

Thoroughly enjoyed the video, both enlightening and depressing in equal measures. Manchester City Council still allowing 19th century buildings to be demolished. We've had this conversation many times and yet lessons are still not being learned. Would like to pick your brains, Aidan: Picadilly Gardens - what is to be done? It's an ugly pimple on Manchester's otherwise handsome face.

[@paulwild3676]

@@ians3586I would prefer the Luftwaffe to him. We had the B Of the Bang a ghastly sculpture, which was like something designed in a Blue Peter competition in the 70s. Bits kept falling off it and it cost the City over a million pounds. Anybody but him.

[@garethwilliams976]

The Hulme crescents were not so bad after all were they? Our present day yuppies would have been delighted with them! Pity they could not have been upgraded and saved and the new tenants moved in with high aspirations and rents.

[@AidanEyewitness]

The problem with the Hulme Crescents was that they were badly built and badly maintained. These private developments are well built and maintained with many extra services. It's an interesting comparison. Many thanks.

[@rufdymond]

I can’t say I agree with any of that…as someone who lived in the Hulme crescents, I can categorically say they were awful.

[@r.markclayton4821]

I helped survey the system-built stock in Hulme with "Community Action" back in 1974, the then relatively new crescents were bad and the prefabricated Bonsall Street flats were worse and a fire hazard - I once had to report a fire in an empty one! Appalling constructed and riddled with all sorts of vermin the dire district heating scheme's ducts literally provided rat runs through the whole structure. Bad management (by the City Council) resulted in all types of vice and crime and as decent tenants moved out, they were replaced by squatters / junkies. Even solidly built stock like Rodney Court ended up totally derelict, although at least that was saved [eventually].

[@r.markclayton4821]

@@AidanEyewitness Hear - hear - see below.

[@cteasdale1979]

Manchester is great city people we. Be priced out of city like in London

[@AidanEyewitness]

Hopefully people in Manchester will not be priced out of their own city. Thanks for your comment 🙂

[@matthewbenedict-newton7109]

Have you got a brother Sean, who worked for the DWP?

[@AidanEyewitness]

No, I only had a sister and I am no relation to the retired RTE presenter Seán O'Rourke! :)

[@paulmason6474]

Some of the apartments on Port St 2 bedrooms £500,000 Think they are retaining the Berlin Wall. Renovation end of year

[@AidanEyewitness]

Thanks for the information. I gave up on Piccdilly Gardens many years ago!

[@JohnnyZenith]

No. Plans aren't released till next year so there won't be any redevelopment of the gardens yet.

[@no15minutecities]

Wow.....censoring innocents comments.....geez you have issues.

[@AidanEyewitness]

What is this comment in response to?

[@888ssss]

i like adan. he just records everything and keeps a neutral position on these white elephants.

[@AidanEyewitness]

Thanks, I take that as a compliment!

[@888ssss]

@@AidanEyewitness you are a wise man.

[@JohnnyZenith]

They aren't white elephants.

[@AidanEyewitness]

​@@888ssss I do my best!

[@888ssss]

@@JohnnyZenith they could only be built because the interest rate was falsified. they cannot stand in the market conditions approaching.

[@highvoltageswitcher6256]

The next decade will see the Manchester building boom peak and then slow down over the subsequent decade. Why? The United States no longer needs nor wants 1992-2007 style hyper-globalism anymore. That system relied on a vast US Navy destroyer fleet to keep all the worlds shipping lanes open. Now they only have enough destroyers to protect the shipping lanes they need for their own essential inputs. So what? Without someone keeping open the international shipping lanes the piracy and state sponsored maritime graft will become the norm. This affects the two big economies that relied on hyper-globalisation and the US Navy to thrive over the last three decades; Germany and China. Both these countries will de-industrialise over the next ten years or so. A huge amount of capital has been invested in building in Manchester by Chinese backers. They can see what has and will happen to China and are getting their money out and invested in an island that has not succumbed to hostile invasion and conquest for over 950 years (geography will count again in a de-globalised world). As the rest of the countries which heavily relied on US backed hyper-globalisation, who do not supply something very important to the Americans, fall in chaos or ruin they too will see capital flight. Lots will come to the UK because although the US is the safest place to put your money for the next 20 plus years their government is officious, enquiring and asks too many difficult,questions for some would be international investors. The UK is less searching when it comes to the interior aspects of a gift-horse’s mouth. So, expect many many more skyscrapers in Manchester and any other GB city that is relaxed about maximum build heights.😊

[@AidanEyewitness]

You’ve raised many issues here. I make these videos so we can look back and gain a better understanding of change. We can also look back on your analysis and see how things have panned out. Many thanks.

[@highvoltageswitcher6256]

@@AidanEyewitness Yes, the validity of my arguments will be tested over the coming years in the real world. They are not my original thoughts though. I nicked them from a geopolitics and geoeconomics guy call Peter Zeihan. If you type his name in a KZbin search you will find hundreds of his videos.

[@AidanEyewitness]

@@highvoltageswitcher6256 Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll take a look

[@windingroadelven]

I’m deeply saddened that Manchester council happily lets its city be filled with towers that have zero character. I can’t believe that they keep allowing these ugly Towers to be built ! Greedy developers who only want to build in blocks to maximise floor space

[@MrTSK27]

We do not all find them ugly !

[@garethwilliams976]

Sad that much redevelopment is focussed on the hidtoric inner city . It should have been situated further out like Wilmslow.

[@AidanEyewitness]

Many people share your view on the towers, but they are supplying a demand, lots of people want to live in these apartments. Manchester is a hotspot for employment so I don't think they will stand empty.

[@suhailjamil3909]

I only find the Beetham tower ugly. The others are very nice and quite pleasing to the eyes. I'm glad MCC have taken a more pragmatic and futuristic view to development. Manchester needs to move with the times and not be stuck in the dark old ages. I personally want more skyscrapers and higher please. Let's take the UK highest building record away from The shard 😍

[@ians3586]

I just wish the skyscrapers had more visual interest. More curves and decorative elements. In this age of computer design and 3-D printing we can do better than sterile boxy rectangles. Thomas Heatherwick is a good example of an architect who does imaginative developments.