The College Library

SimpsonHaugh’s five buildings would replace Weston Hall and the Pendulum Hotel: 50 and 18 storeys in phase one, then 32 and 24. About 2,500 student rooms; officers recommend approval. Ref 144791/FO/2025.

Place North West →

Objections · 17 Oct 2026

38-storey Sister student tower draws 88 objections

RG Real Estate’s 1,041-bed scheme of eight, 10 and 38 storeys would replace the Charles Street car park, the first residential project to come forward at Sister. Officers back it ahead of the same 22 Oct committee. Ref PLA-2026-000312.

Manchester Evening News · Place North West →

Lodged · 8 Oct 2026

One Castlefield: 46-storey tower, 592 homes by Cornbrook

Chatha Capital’s Denton Corker Marshall tower, one storey shy of Beetham, on the stalled No1 Castlefield plot. Ref PLA-2026-001341; decision due in coming months.

Best of Manchester →

Funding · 5 Oct 2026

Glenbrook’s 44-storey Whitworth Street West tower lines up M&G

364 build-to-rent flats by Sheppard Robson; M&G equity and debt via its £1bn multi-family fund, after formal planning approval (ref 141773/FO/2024).

Place North West →

Public cash · 7 Oct 2026

GMCA puts £17m of Good Growth Fund money into the 44-storey tower

Part of £60m+ for sign-off on 9 Oct, alongside £26m for 382 rental flats at Trafford Wharf. The scheme offers no affordable housing up front.

Manchester Evening News →

Approved Apr 2025

Viadux Two cleared — then broke ground Nov 2025

Council yes for 246m; Salboy + Nobu ceremony with De Niro.

BBC · Place NW →

Approved Nov 2025

Regent Park, Ordsall — tallest tower ~242m

Salford scheme of 10+ buildings beside New Jackson; faced July 2025 retail objections.

Wikipedia list →

Approved · Lighthouse

213m / 71 storeys at New Jackson

Would take the Renaker district’s crown from Deansgate South; restaurant planned on 71.

Wikipedia list · BBC →

Pipeline report

Barbour ABI: Manchester could be Europe’s 4th “tallest city”

26 buildings over 100m built or in pipeline; AJ and BBC both carried the 2026–30 note.

Architects’ Journal →

Refurb · CIS

~£100m office works on the 1962 tower

Named in BBC pipeline round-up alongside Colloco and Sister Plot C.

BBC →

Also in planning

Great Ancoats ~75 storeys; Hotel Piccadilly 34 storeys

Residential and hotel stacks listed in Barbour ABI / BBC tallies.

BBC →

06

Quirky / funny stories

The howl, olive trees, and verified oddities — Manchester plus strange goings-on from towers worldwide.

The howl

Wind over the ornamental glass blade sings ~B below middle C

Air across the fins — like blowing a bottle. Tourists have fled Deansgate thinking of aliens.

Sonic Wonders →

Paramore sample

The band sampled the howl on “Idle Worship” (2017)

Guitarist Taylor York told Beats 1 he found a recording and put it in the track.

Wikipedia · Beetham →

Olive trees upstairs

Simpson’s penthouse garden: Italian olive, lemon and oak craned through the roof

Trees went in before the top was glazed in 2006.

Wikipedia · Beetham →

Wayfinding blade

Locals still tell lost visitors: find the Beetham and you know which way is home

The thin overhang reads as a bookmark on every postcard skyline.

Wikipedia · Beetham →

Foam on the fins

Early fix: foam pads and later aluminium nosings on the blade

Quieter in a breeze; still howls in a gale.

Acoustic Engineering blog →

Guardian, 2006

Complaints began before the hotel even opened

Council environmental health called it unlike anything in 20 years of noise work.

The Guardian →

Taipei · damper ball

A 660-ton golden steel pendulum hangs between floors 88–92

Visitors watch the world’s largest tuned-mass damper sway in typhoons — Soudelor swung it a metre in 2015.

Wikipedia · Taipei 101 →

NYC · wire walk · 1974

Philippe Petit walked a cable between the Twin Towers — then turned himself in

He and friends posed as construction workers, rigged the wire overnight, and spent ~45 minutes 1,350 ft up.

Wikipedia · Petit →

Bangkok · Ghost Tower

Sathorn Unique: unfinished since 1997, bats in the balconies, shrine at the door

Asian financial crisis froze the 49-storey condo; urban explorers nicknamed it Ghost Tower.

Architectural Digest →

Pyongyang · Hotel of Doom

Ryugyong Hotel topped out in 1992, then stood windowless for 16 years

A 105-storey pyramid shell — crane abandoned on the tip — still never opened as a hotel.

CNN Style →

NYC · secret spire

Chrysler’s needle was assembled inside, then raised in 90 minutes

Van Alen hid the 185 ft spire so rivals at 40 Wall wouldn’t know the final height until it pierced the sky.

Wikipedia · Chrysler →

San Francisco · the lean

Millennium Tower sank and tilted — no 13th or 44th floor, either

By 2022 the roof lean reached ~28 in; a perimeter-pile fix later arrested further settlement.

Wikipedia · Millennium Tower →

Mexico City · quake icon

Torre Latinoamericana rode out the 1985 magnitude-8.1 quake unscathed

It had already won a steel award after the 1957 quake — a downtown survivor amid collapsed neighbours.

Wikipedia · Torre Latinoamericana →

Auckland · base jump · Oct 2026

Daredevil filmed leaping from unfinished 187 m Seascape tower

Parachute opened over Beach Road at sunrise; police called the stunt reckless and opened inquiries.

1News →

Dubai · confuse the wind

Burj Khalifa’s Y-shape and spiral setbacks were wind-tunnel tools

Stepped buttresses “confuse” vortex shedding so the world’s tallest doesn’t dance itself apart.

Wikipedia · Burj Khalifa →

NYC · Cloud Club

A private Cloud Club once occupied floors 66–68 of the Chrysler Building

Texaco execs and city elites lunched in Art Deco rooms under a ceiling mural of clouds — closed 1979.

Wikipedia · Chrysler →

07

Famous residents

Public, well-sourced links to Manchester towers — not gossip lists.

Architect upstairs

Ian Simpson lived in the top-floor Beetham penthouse

Highest residential space in Europe on opening in 2006 — two storeys, about £3m.

Wikipedia · Beetham →

Footballers

Phil Neville’s triplex and other Neville-linked flats made MEN property pages

Public sales coverage; treat as reported ownership, not a guest list.

Wikipedia · Beetham →

Mario Balotelli

31st-floor flat fire, 29 January 2009 — partial evacuation

One apartment left uninhabitable; widely reported at the time.

Wikipedia · Beetham →

Shayne Ward

Singer among early Beetham buyers named in contemporary press

Part of the first wave of celebrity flat sales around opening.

Wikipedia · Beetham →

Robert De Niro

On site for Nobu / Viadux Two groundbreaking, Nov 2025

Co-owner of Nobu brand; not a resident claim — a developer photo call.

Place North West →

Build-to-rent tenants

Legal & General’s West & North towers are BTR — institutional landlord, rented flats

L&G bought the two BTR Deansgate Square towers after Renaker completed them.

Wikipedia · Deansgate Square →

08

Crimes & incidents

Crime, trespass, terrorism and tower dramas worldwide — journalism only, no invention.

Falling glass · Sep 2023

Large pane from the hotel façade shattered on Great Bridgewater Street

No injuries reported; stitch-plate temporary fix still in place years after court order.

The Manc →

High Court · 2019

Building ruled in disrepair — sealant failure on about 1,350 shadow-box units

Hotel company sued freeholder; permanent fix still unfinished years later.

Manchester Mill →

Glass crack · 2008

11 September 2008: a pane cracked; street cordoned

Early façade drama, years before the larger sealant case.

Wikipedia · Beetham →

Balotelli fire · 2009

Fire in the footballer’s flat — tower partly evacuated

Journalism-of-record incident; one flat uninhabitable.

Wikipedia · Beetham →

Leaseholder limbo

Residents report unsellable flats and rising service charges

MEN and Manchester Mill investigations; council called it “perpetual limbo.”

Manchester Mill →

Nominal freehold sale

2021: freehold sold for a “nominal” sum amid the dispute

Companies House later showed Christodoulou as PSC of Deansgate Freehold Ltd.

Wikipedia · Mill →

Caracas · Tower of David

Unfinished 45-storey bank tower became the world’s tallest squat

From 2007, thousands of families lived without lifts; government relocated residents in 2014–15.

Wikipedia · Confinanzas →

Kuala Lumpur · Spiderman

Alain Robert arrested mid-climb on the Petronas Twin Towers — thrice

French free-solo climber was stopped at floor 60 in 1997 and 2007; in 2009 he reached the tip and was fined.

Wikipedia · Alain Robert →

Seoul · Lotte World Tower

British climber referred for prosecution after bare-hand climb to floor 72

George King-Thompson reached the 72nd storey of Seoul’s 555 m tower at dawn, June 2023.

Yonhap →

London · The Shard · 2013

Greenpeace activists scaled Europe’s tallest building to protest Shell

Six climbers spent hours on the unfinished Shard; five were later arrested over the Arctic drill banner.

The Guardian →

NYC · Empire State · 1945

A B-25 bomber hit the Empire State Building in fog — 14 dead

Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a ~75-storey fall when cables failed after the crash.

Wikipedia · B-25 crash →

Shanghai · rooftop trespass

Russian daredevils filmed themselves atop unfinished Shanghai Tower

Vadim Makhorov and Vitaly Raskalov climbed China’s then-new tallest without permission in 2014.

The Guardian →

New Orleans · Plaza Tower · 2026

Teen died after breaking into abandoned 45-storey Plaza Tower

Jacque St Ann, 17, fell on an interior stair during an urban-explore trip; police warned against blight tourism.

The Guardian →

Hong Kong · rooftop death · 2023

French daredevil Rémi Lucidi fell from a Hong Kong skyscraper

Social-media climber known for illegal high-rise stunts died after a fall from a residential tower.

Sky News →

NYC · WTC · 1993

Truck bomb in the North Tower garage killed six and injured more than a thousand

Islamist terrorists tried to topple Tower 1 into Tower 2; the towers stood — until 2001.

Wikipedia · 1993 bombing →

NYC · WTC · 2001

Hijacked airliners destroyed the Twin Towers — nearly 3,000 dead

The deadliest terrorist attack on US soil erased the skyline’s twin icons in under two hours.

Wikipedia · 9/11 →

Chicago · Sears Tower · 1981

“SpiderDan” Goodwin climbed Sears Tower in a homemade Spider-Man suit

He used suction cups and skyhooks; firefighters tried to stop him mid-ascent. Later climbed Hancock too.

Wikipedia · Dan Goodwin →

Shanghai · Jin Mao · 2007

Spiderman scaled Jin Mao in costume — five days in Chinese jail, then expelled

Alain Robert free-soloed China’s then-tallest, was arrested at the top, and banned from the country.

Wikipedia · Alain Robert →

Moscow · Federation Tower · 2007

Detained after free-soloing Russia’s then-tallest Federation Tower

Robert reached the top of the 244 m West tower on 4 September 2007; police took him in afterwards.

Wikipedia · Alain Robert →

San Francisco · buyer lawsuit

City attorney sued Millennium developers, alleging buyers were duped on the sink

2016 suit claimed the lean and settlement were withheld from condo buyers; residents also sued for hundreds of millions.

Wikipedia · Millennium Tower →

09

Photo / research mosaic

Six plates of glass, brick and cranes — each opens a source.

Beetham Tower, a glass slab with a cantilevered top, against a clear blue sky

Deansgate · Hilton

The Beetham row, West Tower living, and the tall-city pipeline.

11

Watch

Drone passes and the Beetham howl — titles link to YouTube.

12

Look at next

Scouts, planners and a short further-reading shelf — every row is a source.

For a sound recordist

Put a mic on the blade

In a gale the glass fin howls. Still air is the beauty shot; wind is the weird one.

Sonic Wonders →

For a film scout

Shoot low, at the brick

Stand at Knott Mill. Warehouses in the foreground, the quartet behind.

Wikipedia list →

Further reading

Beetham Tower — full Wikipedia dossier

Heights, hotel floors, howl, façade litigation and ownership timeline.

Wikipedia · Beetham →

Further reading

Deansgate Square — the Renaker quartet

Four towers, 1,508 apartments, L&G BTR split on West & North.

Wikipedia · Deansgate Square →

Further reading

Trinity Islands — Vista and Heights

The Castlefield riverside twins that reshuffled the height league.

Wikipedia · Trinity Islands →

Further reading

BBC: Manchester and Europe’s tallest-city race

Pipeline round-up with Barbour ABI — Viadux, CIS works, Ancoats and more.

BBC →

1 · Deansgate Square South

2 · Trinity Heights

3 · Vista River Gardens

4 · Beetham Tower

5 · Deansgate Square East

6 · Three60

buildings over 100m in Greater Manchester in 2026 — up from four in 2017

completed towers above 150m — densest UK metro stack outside London

Europe “tallest city” path: seventh now; Barbour ABI sees fourth by 2030 if pipeline lands

UK height rank for Deansgate Square South (June 2026) — still No.1 outside London

apartments across the four Deansgate Square towers

Nobu / Viadux Two under construction — would become UK’s tallest outside London

Renaker keeps South & East; Legal & General holds West & North

Yianis Group / John Christodoulou holds the freehold

MCR Property Group bought the 1962 slab

Renaker raised Elizabeth, Contour, Three60, The Blade

Renaker again — Vista River Gardens and Trinity Heights

Salboy with Nobu (De Niro, Matsuhisa, Teper)

Nobu Manchester / Viadux Two

St Michael’s — W Hotel & residences

Parkside at Colliers Yard, Greengate

VIVERE Residences — Forshaw / DOMIS

Trinity Heights joins Vista on Trinity Islands

Green topped Dec 2025; Blue June 2026

IQ’s 50-storey Charles Street cluster up for approval on 22 Oct

38-storey Sister student tower draws 88 objections

One Castlefield: 46-storey tower, 592 homes by Cornbrook

Glenbrook’s 44-storey Whitworth Street West tower lines up M&G

GMCA puts £17m of Good Growth Fund money into the 44-storey tower

Viadux Two cleared — then broke ground Nov 2025

Regent Park, Ordsall — tallest tower ~242m

213m / 71 storeys at New Jackson

Barbour ABI: Manchester could be Europe’s 4th “tallest city”

~£100m office works on the 1962 tower

Great Ancoats ~75 storeys; Hotel Piccadilly 34 storeys

Wind over the ornamental glass blade sings ~B below middle C

The band sampled the howl on “Idle Worship” (2017)

Simpson’s penthouse garden: Italian olive, lemon and oak craned through the roof

Locals still tell lost visitors: find the Beetham and you know which way is home

Early fix: foam pads and later aluminium nosings on the blade

Complaints began before the hotel even opened

A 660-ton golden steel pendulum hangs between floors 88–92

Philippe Petit walked a cable between the Twin Towers — then turned himself in

Sathorn Unique: unfinished since 1997, bats in the balconies, shrine at the door

Ryugyong Hotel topped out in 1992, then stood windowless for 16 years

Chrysler’s needle was assembled inside, then raised in 90 minutes

Millennium Tower sank and tilted — no 13th or 44th floor, either

Torre Latinoamericana rode out the 1985 magnitude-8.1 quake unscathed

Daredevil filmed leaping from unfinished 187 m Seascape tower

Burj Khalifa’s Y-shape and spiral setbacks were wind-tunnel tools

A private Cloud Club once occupied floors 66–68 of the Chrysler Building

Ian Simpson lived in the top-floor Beetham penthouse

Phil Neville’s triplex and other Neville-linked flats made MEN property pages

31st-floor flat fire, 29 January 2009 — partial evacuation

Singer among early Beetham buyers named in contemporary press

On site for Nobu / Viadux Two groundbreaking, Nov 2025

Legal & General’s West & North towers are BTR — institutional landlord, rented flats

Large pane from the hotel façade shattered on Great Bridgewater Street

Building ruled in disrepair — sealant failure on about 1,350 shadow-box units

11 September 2008: a pane cracked; street cordoned

Fire in the footballer’s flat — tower partly evacuated

Residents report unsellable flats and rising service charges

2021: freehold sold for a “nominal” sum amid the dispute

Unfinished 45-storey bank tower became the world’s tallest squat

Alain Robert arrested mid-climb on the Petronas Twin Towers — thrice

British climber referred for prosecution after bare-hand climb to floor 72

Greenpeace activists scaled Europe’s tallest building to protest Shell

A B-25 bomber hit the Empire State Building in fog — 14 dead

Russian daredevils filmed themselves atop unfinished Shanghai Tower

Teen died after breaking into abandoned 45-storey Plaza Tower

French daredevil Rémi Lucidi fell from a Hong Kong skyscraper

Truck bomb in the North Tower garage killed six and injured more than a thousand

Hijacked airliners destroyed the Twin Towers — nearly 3,000 dead

“SpiderDan” Goodwin climbed Sears Tower in a homemade Spider-Man suit

Spiderman scaled Jin Mao in costume — five days in Chinese jail, then expelled

Detained after free-soloing Russia’s then-tallest Federation Tower

City attorney sued Millennium developers, alleging buyers were duped on the sink

The blade on Deansgate

Brick in front, glass behind

Before the boom, this slab