Our chief photographer has, sadly, never had a great head for heights and so it was with some trepidation that he was despatched to the under-construction Deansgate Square in Manchester city centre.

Manchester city centre as viewed from floor 54 of the the new Deansgate Square, Tower 1 – photographs from the top floor by manchesterphotographer.com

A new client booked us as photographers for a case-study of one of their graduate trainees.

Deansgate Square Manchester – photographs from the top floor by manchesterphotographer.com

So, after a few shots on the ground it was very good of Renaker Construction to grant access to the tallest of the new towers. This main tower will reach 64 stories when complete, topping out at 201 metres. And that’s just one of four such towers that will be slightly smaller.  We got to the then top, floor 54, as Hanson continued to pour the concrete above for the next ten floors of West Properties mega investment. It’s a daunting ride in an external goods lift that’s fastened to the side of the building…and there’s not much in the way of walls, windows or even fencing to soothe the acrophobic once you reach the top. But what a view it offers over Manchester and beyond.

The view of Tower no. 2 (left) and Tower no. 1 (right) from the ground.

In total the four new towers (previously known as the owen Street Towers) will provide 1508 apartments…luxury apartments at that! Some of these will even have their own private winter gardens. Those who can’t run to that will still have access to the 25m swimming pool, a tennis court…and what will surely be the best rooftop garden in the UK.  The mighty Beetham Tower once looked incongruous in the city centre at 169 metre tall – now you can see over the top of it…and directly in to Architect, Ian Simpson’s legendary penthouse apartment, with its olive grove. Still, he can’t complain, Simpson’s very own architectural practice, Simpson Haugh have also designed Deansgate Square for developer.

Ian Simpson has invaded his own privacy, with the new neighbours getting a great view into, and above, his 169m high penthouse.

The first tower is set to open in Spring 2019 and will be the second tallest building in the UK – just nine floors lower than the 309m (1013ft) Shard in London. You can find further info here.

Deansgate Square Manchester – photographs from the top floor by manchesterphotographer.com

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