City Tower, Manchester

City Tower, Manchester
City Tower
General information
Status Complete
Type Office, Retail
Location Manchester, England
Coordinates 53°28′49″N 2°14′18″W / 53.48028°N 2.23833°W / 53.48028; -2.23833Coordinates: 53°28′49″N 2°14′18″W / 53.48028°N 2.23833°W / 53.48028; -2.23833
Completed 1965
Height
Antenna spire 123 m (404 ft)
Roof 107 m (351 ft)
Top floor 28
Technical details
Floor count 30
Floor area 20,905 m2 (225,020 sq ft)
Elevator count 8
Design and construction
Owner Bruntwood
Architect Covell, Matthews & Partners
Developer Bernard Sunley
City Tower before reclad
City Tower after reclad

City Tower, (formerly the Sunley Building) 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,

The tower has entrances on York Street (renamed New York Street in 2008) and Piccadilly Gardens. Over the years, the tower became increasingly run down and many tenants left.[citation needed] 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 [1]

See also

References

External links