The big new towers that will transform Manchester's skyline - where they will be and what it means for the city centre

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Manchester’s building boom is still rumbling on, despite the disruption caused by the pandemic. The city’s skyline remains crowded with cranes, and that doesn’t look like it’s changing any time soon.

Most of the city centre’s new headline development is now taking place right by the perimeter of the inner ring road, with construction site fences bordering busy junctions on Trinity Way, Mancunian Way, and Great Ancoats Street. That’s because space in the UK’s second city is only getting more expensive.

And, as land costs soar, the only way is up. The latest apartment blocks are now regularly topping out at over 30 storeys, making the 15-year-old Beetham Tower look like a mighty oak in a forest, rather than a lonely tree in a field.

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Even though experts believe 2022 will be a quiet year for the city, seeing a lower number of ‘built-to-rent’ scheme completions — largely as a knock on from 2020 — Manchester’s development cycle is gearing up again. By the middle of the decade, BTR development will be back at pre-Covid levels.

With so much development going on, the Manchester Evening News toured the city centre on foot this summer with architects, agents, and property industry insiders to get the lowdown on what’s being built today, what Manchester will look like tomorrow, and who will be able to afford to live there. And, it became clear that within the boundaries of the city centre, three areas are a hub for new-builds - Piccadilly and Ancoats, Deansgate, and Salford.

The starting point of the M.E.N.’s 13.4km odyssey was just behind Piccadilly Station. This area was featured on the BBC documentary ‘ Manctopia: Billion Pound Property