‘Chinese-style’ building boom is transforming whole city...
MANCHESTER is at the beginning of a building boom almost ‘Chinesestyle’ in scale, according to a town hall boss.
Cranes have been springing up along the skyline for several years, but development is gathering pace.
Vast waves of construction are also taking place just over the River Irwell in Salford.
Thousands of flats are going up on either side of Trinity Way, blurring the line between the two cities.
On the Manchester side, work on the £650m New Bailey scheme is well under way. The project will create a ‘gateway’ neighbourhood, of 1,000 homes and commercial space.
The first phase of the Middlewood Locks scheme – a Salford development of more than 2,000 new homes – is 75pc complete. The previously disused land will become a new £700m neighbourhood with a hotel, shops, offices and gyms.
The huge Ordsall Chord bridge is now in place, ready to link Piccadilly and Victoria stations.
On the southern fringe of the city, the huge Owen Street skyscraper which will become the Manchester’s tallest – is well under way.
Developments are also due to include 10,000 homes stretching from the northern gateway of the city towards Collyhurst. Thousands more will sweep east towards the Etihad Stadium.
Manchester has not seen huge development since the Victorian era.
David Ellison, chair of the town hall’s planning committee, said 250,000 people are expected to set up home on the stretch of land between Salford and the Etihad when new houses are finished.
Comparing the development to the vast expansions of cities in the Far East, he Coun Ellison M.E.N.: “It’s almost Chinese in its scale.”