North Tower
Former namesHighland House
General information
TypeHigh-rise residential and hotel
LocationSalford, close to Manchester city centre
Coordinates53°29′06″N 2°14′47″W / 53.4851°N 2.2465°W / 53.4851; -2.2465
Completed1966 (1966)
Height80 m (260 ft)
Technical details
Floor count23
Floor area14,000 m2 (150,000 sq ft)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Leach, Rhodes, & Walker

North Tower (formerly Highland House) is a high-rise residential building on Victoria Bridge Street in Salford, England. The building is 23 storeys tall with a podium at the base, which gives it a total height of 80 m (260 ft),[1][2] making it one of the tallest buildings in Salford. The building is in the City of Salford,[3] just north of the River Irwell and less than 100 m (330 ft) from Manchester Cathedral on the other side of the river. The top 12 floors contain 96 apartments, with the lower 10 used as a Premier Inn hotel.[4]

History

The building was designed and built by Leach, Rhodes & Walker (now Leach Rhodes Walker) for the Inland Revenue, and was completed in 1966.[4] This was not LRW's only work for the Inland Revenue; they also constructed Aldine House in 1967, as well as Trinity Bridge House in 1998.[5]

The tower was built using the (then) innovative technique of using a continuously climbing shutter to cast a central core; pre-fabricated cladding was then lifted into place using a tower crane. This technique led to rapid construction, avoided the need for scaffolding, and allowed the lower floors to be occupied while building continued higher up. The combination was very cost-effective,[4] but was not flawless by any means. On a windy night the windows of the building blew off, ending up in the nearby bus station.[5]

Ownership

It changed hands in 1994 for £7.7 million.[6] The Inland Revenue announced plans to move out in 1995[7] in an early example of a Private Finance Initiative, described as the most complex to date,[8][9] and shortly afterwards the building was sold by London & Regional Properties to the Bruntwood group.[10][11] Between 1998 and 2000 the building was reclad, converted to its current use and renamed, at a total cost of £4.5 million.[11][12] In 2004, the president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, George Ferguson, said that the building (along with the Arndale Centre) was "dreadful" and should be demolished.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "North Tower". Skyscrapernews.com. Retrieved 21 February 2008.
  2. ↑ "North Tower". Emporis. Retrieved 21 February 2008.
  3. ↑ "PREMIER INN, North Tower, Victoria Bridge Street, SALFORD, M3 5AS - Details and Information - Address Postcode Finder". addressesandpostcodes.co.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Parkinson-Bailey, John J. (2000). Manchester: an architectural history. Manchester University Press. pp. 171–2, 343. ISBN 0-7190-5606-3.
  5. 1 2 Griffin, Phil (2003). "Offices of Manchester architects, Leach Rhodes Walker". entre for the Urban Built Environment. CUBE. Archived from the original on 26 February 2006. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  6. ↑ "£7M Manchester sale". Property Week. 10 February 1994.
  7. ↑ "Taxman leads building boom". Manchester Evening News. 24 November 1995.
  8. ↑ "PFI special – Inland Revenue sets taxing problem with office scheme". Manchester Evening News. 25 April 1996.
  9. ↑ "Inland Revenue offices offer first test for private finance initiative". Manchester Evening News. 14 May 1996.
  10. ↑ Thame, David (24 November 1998). "Highland House is booming Bruntwood's latest scoop". Manchester Evening News.
  11. 1 2 Thame, David (12 May 2000). "The brunt offering". PropertyWeek.com. CMP Information Limited. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  12. ↑ Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2004). Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East. The buildings of England. Yale University Press. p. 624. ISBN 0-300-10583-5.
  13. ↑ Ducker, James (26 August 2004). "A walk back round". Retrieved 22 March 2008.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.