City Tower, Manchester
Encyclopedia
City Tower, is a 30-storey office block situated at Piccadilly Gardens
in Manchester
, England. It has the highest office space currently available in Manchester standing 107 metres (351 ft) tall. City Tower was completed in 1965, the Plaza complex was constructed by the developers Bernard Sunley and designed by Covell, Matthews & Partners. It is currently the third tallest building in Manchester and expected to fall to eighth by 2012,
. Over the years, the tower became increasingly run down and many tenants left. A refurbishment programme was drawn up in the late 1990s, but this was never realised until property company Bruntwood purchased Piccadilly Plaza for £65 million in 2004. This plan is complete, with a new central ground floor entrance. The next phase involved repainting and fitting an atrium to the sides of the tower. An advertising screen has been erected showing full motion video
clips to passers by in the gardens.
The tower is one of Manchester's main broadcast transmission sites, hosting the antennas of local radio stations XFM
, Rock Radio, Capital on FM and digital radio multiplexes
Digital One
, BBC
, MXR North West
and CE Manchester
.
The penthouse (floor 28) is different to the other floors as it originally had a walkway around the perimeter. When Bruntwood acquired City Tower they removed the walkway and installed wider windows. The redesign included an overhang with floor to ceiling windows.
Although City Tower is not the highest building in the city, the 28th floor is the highest commercial office space in Manchester and is occupied by UKFast
Piccadilly Gardens
Piccadilly Gardens is a green space in Manchester city centre, England, situated at one end of Market Street and on the edge of the Northern Quarter...
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England. It has the highest office space currently available in Manchester standing 107 metres (351 ft) tall. City Tower was completed in 1965, the Plaza complex was constructed by the developers Bernard Sunley and designed by Covell, Matthews & Partners. It is currently the third tallest building in Manchester and expected to fall to eighth by 2012,
Background
The tower has entrances on York Street (renamed New York Street in 2008) and Piccadilly GardensPiccadilly Gardens
Piccadilly Gardens is a green space in Manchester city centre, England, situated at one end of Market Street and on the edge of the Northern Quarter...
. Over the years, the tower became increasingly run down and many tenants left. A refurbishment programme was drawn up in the late 1990s, but this was never realised until property company Bruntwood purchased Piccadilly Plaza for £65 million in 2004. This plan is complete, with a new central ground floor entrance. The next phase involved repainting and fitting an atrium to the sides of the tower. An advertising screen has been erected showing full motion video
Full motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
clips to passers by in the gardens.
The tower is one of Manchester's main broadcast transmission sites, hosting the antennas of local radio stations XFM
Xfm Manchester
Xfm Manchester is a commercial radio station broadcasting alternative and indie music to Manchester in North West England.It builds on the brand and format established by Xfm London. The majority of programming is shared but some is produced specifically for Manchester...
, Rock Radio, Capital on FM and digital radio multiplexes
Digital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
Digital One
Digital One
Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covers more than 90% of the populationfrom a total of 137 transmitters...
, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, MXR North West
MXR North West
MXR North West is a regional commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, which serves the North West of England.- Transmitter sites :MXR North West currently broadcasts from the following sites:-Stations carried:...
and CE Manchester
CE Manchester
CE Manchester is a DAB digital radio broadcast multiplex serving the city of Manchester in the north-west of England. It is operated by CE Digital, the DAB multiplex operator jointly owned by Global Radio and Bauer Radio which also operates CE London and CE Birmingham. The DAB services operated...
.
The penthouse (floor 28) is different to the other floors as it originally had a walkway around the perimeter. When Bruntwood acquired City Tower they removed the walkway and installed wider windows. The redesign included an overhang with floor to ceiling windows.
Although City Tower is not the highest building in the city, the 28th floor is the highest commercial office space in Manchester and is occupied by UKFast
UKFast
UKFast.Net Ltd or UKFast is a Manchester-based business-to-business hosting provider, offering bespoke dedicated and virtual hosting solutions within the UK web hosting industry. UKFast looks after 250,000 e-commerce web sites....