The 32 developments that will change the face of Manchester mapped View fullscreen

The cranes are there for all to see - Manchester city centre is now in the midst of a building boom.

At least a dozen skyscrapers of more than 30 storeys are on their way, the M.E.N. can reveal, while more than 10,000 apartments have now either been granted planning permission or are in the process of getting it.

If they all get built, the face and the skyline of the city centre - and its border with Salford - will change radically in the next two to three years.

But often it can be hard to work out exactly what it is that's being constructed, or even what used to be there before.

So we have mapped the most significant projects - from skyscraper apartments to offices, arts venues and parks - currently in the pipeline so you can see how dramatically your city is set to change.



NOMA / Angel Meadows

Angel Gardens and Angel Square: skyscraper apartments, offices, public space

After a tricky few years following the economic crash of 2008, the Co-Op-led NOMA development on the corner of Rochdale Road and Great Ancoats Street is now moving forward.

Planning permissions for a huge 36-storey, 458-apartment development - pictured - plus a 13-storey block of offices with new public space were granted last year for this empty plot.



Simpson Street: apartments

In September planning was granted for 66 new apartments on a plot at the heart of the historic Angel Meadows, near the NOMA site.

It is likely to be the first of many new developments around Angel Meadows as the economy picks up and the council looks to join up the area with both the city centre and the derelict landscape to the north – see below.



Angel Meadows: skyscraper apartments, houses, shops, restaurants

The council and the Co-Op have big plans for the area around this hidden green lung, currently bordered by a cluster of new and converted low-rise apartments built to the original Victorian street plan.

They include a 33-storey block of apartments at the northern end of the Meadows, as well as a three-part development – of up to 12 storeys – of flats in front of the two Tobacco Factories, overlooking the park and a second cluster (pictured) on the other side.

Ultimately bars, shops and restaurants could also spring up in the future, according to the council's long term plans.

Ancoats, New Islington

Oxygen: skyscraper apartments, houses

This 31-storey skyscraper, on the corner of Great Ancoats Street and Store Street, is just the latest in a string of residential developments to be granted in the last year along this busy strip of the inner ring road.

It will feature 345 new flats and 12 townhouses, as well as its own allotments.



The Plaza: apartments, houses

More flats, also on Great Ancoats Street.

Permission for the 10-storey Plaza development was secured last year and will see 201 more apartments built in New Islington.

A wraparound ‘winter garden’ with views out towards the Etihad, plus a private gym – and seven adjacent townhouses – are all promised.



Great Ancoats Street/Port Street: apartments

Mulbury Homes were granted permission for 134 new flats on this currently derelict plot further down the inner ring road, into Ancoats.

Diggers are already on site as they prepare the ground for a £30m development of between eight and 14 storeys, for private rental.



New Union Street: apartments

This first 300-home phase of a massive £1bn Abu Dhabi-funded housing development was granted last summer.

Manchester City’s owners are engaged in a decade-long plan to build 6,000 new homes to the north and east of the city – and these waterfront apartments are the start.



Murray’s Mills: apartments

These imposing Victorian mills in the heart of historic Ancoats are being converted into 108 new apartments by Manchester Life, the same venture that's behind the New Union Street development.

The listed buildings – on Murray Street – will become one, two and three-bed flats, alongside a new five-storey block of apartments next door.

Islington Wharf, Old Mill Street: apartments, houses





Developers ISIS/Muse – who also built the first phases of Islington Wharf and Islington Mews – were granted permission last year for 101 new canal-side homes.

Land currently used as a surface car park in New Islington will include a row of waterfront townhouses and a mixture of one- and two-bed flats.





Deansgate/Spinningfields

St John’s, Quay Street: skyscrapers, offices, hotels, arts venues, green space



(Image: Child Graddon Lewis)

This is the mammoth £1.2bn new district planned by Allied London, the developers behind Spinningfields.

Allied have submitted plans for the entire new neighbourhood, including a 50-storey skyscraper and a total of 2,500 new apartments - but there are also hotels, arts venues, green space and low-rise buildings designed for independent businesses all proposed.

At its heart will sit the £110m Factory theatre, which is in the design and funding process and is due to open in 2019.

The first phase to get permission, around the old Granada House, is listed below.

Manchester Grande: hotel with rooftop bar, private members club, offices, cinema, performance venue



(Image: Levitt Bernstein)



The first phase of St John’s was granted permission late last year – and will see the old ITV site's Granada House building rebuilt into a swanky new hotel and private members’ club.

A new eight-storey office block will go up next to it, complete with rooftop pool, while the next door studios will become a cinema, pop-up workshop spaces and a performance venue.

Quay House, Quay Street: offices







Further up Quay Street, Quay House is the last piece of the Spinningfields jigsaw to be developed by Allied London.

The old dilapidated block has been torn down and is currently being replaced with new Ian Simpson-designed development - called One Spinningfields - of up to 21 storeys, set to include a rooftop restaurant.

Astley House/Byrom House, Quay Street: offices

Directly opposite Quay House, this old office block also got permission to be redeveloped last year.

After demolition, a new 16-storey block of offices – with restaurants and cafes at street level – is due to appear in its place.

XYZ building, Spinningfields: offices and restaurants

Sitting at the heart of Spinningfields, near the Left Bank apartments, Allied’s landmark XYZ building is currently under construction.

With the help of European grant funding, this massive new office development is dubbed a ‘living experiment’, with those behind it promising leisure and culture as well as commercial space.

Jackson’s Row: apartments, offices, shops, bars, restaurants



On the other side of Deansgate, footballer-turner-property-mogul Gary Neville has also big plans, this time for Jackson’s Row, an entire block running up towards the town hall.

Currently that includes the old Bootle Street police station and the Sir Ralph Abercromby pub – the future of which still aren’t clear.

His vision – which has not yet reached the planning stage hence the lack of images, but is thought to be imminent – is ambitious and includes a new public square, 5* hotel, bars, restaurants, office space and luxury apartments, outlined in the draft plan above.

123 Deansgate (Lincoln House): offices





(Image: Glenn Howells)

A bit further down Deansgate the old Lincoln House office block, opposite John Rylands Library, is being rebuilt.

The old tenants – including solicitors Slater and Gordon – have moved out and permission has been granted to build a new 11-storey block of modern offices in its place.



The Great Northern: apartments, skyscraper offices, new street, restaurants





Council bosses have wanted this awkward site on the corner of Deansgate overhauled for years - and the news that foreign property magnates Peterson Group is now willing to plough in £300m to do so was welcomed by the town hall last year.

Over the next decade a new pedestrianised street to run behind the Deansgate frontage is planned, along with a new skyscraper to rival the Beetham and apartments inside the existing multi-storey car park, along with shops, restaurants and leisure attractions.

Salford/City centre border

Greengate: skyscraper apartments, offices

Like NOMA, this development across the river from Manchester Cathedral stalled somewhat in the crash but there are now signs of movement.

Last year £50m plans for 300 new apartments - known as Norton Court - were passed by Salford council and will add yet another skyscraper, this time of 34 storeys, to the city's skyline.

A the start of this year more plans for 170 new homes, including 'factory built houses', were also agreed.

Over the next 15 years a total of 2,000 flats are planned for an area that will increasingly merge the footprint of the Manchester city centre and the city next door.

Middlewood Locks: apartments, houses, offices

Also in Salford - but a spit from the city centre - this vast plot of land, stretching out from Salford Central station along Trinity Way, is earmarked for a £700m boom by Salford council and a range of domestic, Chinese and Singaporean investors.

Plans for 2,000 canal-basin homes were given the go-ahead last March and the first phase of 550 new homes will be the first to get going this year.

City centre/Oxford Road

Former BBC site, Oxford Road: skyscraper apartments, offices, student flats, events hall

Phase one of this huge new Bruntwood-owned district was agreed earlier this year, featuring new student apartment blocks along the River Medlock.

Plans have now gone in for the bulk of the site, fronting Oxford Road – including a cluster of huge office and apartment blocks ranging between 14 and 36 storeys in height, plus an underground concert hall.

In later phases over the coming years, a hub of high-tech firms are planned, making the site a key part of the Oxford Road ‘science corridor’.

Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, Sackville Street: research institute

Part of plans to overhaul the university’s Sackville Street campus, this £60m project was granted permission in January and will sit next to the existing Faraday Building.

It is designed to tie in with the National Graphene Institute at the main campus, as well as with the planned boom in science firms on the nearby BBC site – and is intended to be the ‘leading test-bed’ for the wonder-material.

Kampus, Little David Street: apartments, new 'creative' neighbourhood

A £150m masterplan was unveiled last year for a hidden nook of the city centre that few of us could probably actually pinpoint.

Little David Street is currently a derelict, blocked-off cobbled alleyway off Chorlton Street, next to Manchester Metropolitan University's city centre campus - but in future 500 apartments are planned, alongside hotels and independent bars and restaurants.

London Road Fire Station: to be confirmed

Allied London branched out to the other side of the city centre last year to buy this iconic site near Piccadilly Station, after years of bitter warfare over its future.

The new owner has carried out an extensive consultation on its future, which saw a host of creative ideas submitted by a public keen to finally see it put to good use.

A hotel is by far the most likely main end use, but food markets, a museum and arts space have all been suggested for the rest.

Allied have not so far put forward detailed plans for its future.

Former Origins site, Princess Street/Whitworth Street: 4* hotel, apartments, park





(Image: Urban&Civic/Simpson Haugh)

This very prominent plot on the edge of the gay village stood empty for years following 2008’s economic crash.

A couple of months ago permission was granted for a new upmarket hotel, public gardens, 238 apartments and canal-side eateries.

Portland Street: refurbished offices, new casino/hotel





The dilapidated, half-empty office block at 55 Portland Street, near Chorlton Street bus station, is to be completely refurbished and re-clad.

Next to it a new 4* Park Plaza hotel – complete with the roof garden now apparently obligatory for all new city centre tower blocks – will be built, plus a casino.

London Scottish House: offices

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The faded office block on Mount Street, next to the Midland Hotel, was bought two years ago by investors and is set to be demolished.

Developers plan new upmarket office space in a 17-storey development that will sit adjacent to the revamped St Peter's Square.

2 St Peter's Square: offices

The first new development on St Peter's Square, pictured to the right above, feeds into the council's masterplan for a completely regenerated plaza - and is already complete and occupied by KPMG.

To its left number 2 St Peter's Square is due to be complete early next year and will feature 11 storeys of office space, with shops at ground floor.



Southern city centre fringe



Axis tower, Deansgate Locks: skyscraper apartments

This 27-storey skyscraper, in the shadow of the Beetham Tower, was granted planning permission in 2014.

Sandwiched on a bit of land on the edge of the Locks – bounded by Albion Street and Trafford Street – it will feature 174 apartments and a massive illuminated advertising screen facing towards the south.

10-12 Whitworth St West: skyscraper apartments







Not to be outdone, the developers of 10-12 Whitworth Street West, opposite the Axis, want to make their skyscraper even higher – at 35 storeys.

Permission for the block, due to contain 327 apartments, was granted last year but a tweaked version is now back up at planning again this week, after objectors launched a judicial review against the original.

River Street: skyscraper apartments



(Image: Ian Simpson Architects)

Three years after architect Ian Simpson promised a sister to the Beetham Tower, it is now getting off the ground.

Work has already started on a 42-storey skyscraper on River Street, about half a mile from the Hilton next to the Mancunian Way, which will replace the eyesore multi-storey car park that has graced the spot indefinitely and bring another 430 apartments to the skyline.

But Mr Simpson is not done yet – see below.

Great Jackson Street: four skyscraper apartment blocks







Not content with two Beetham Towers, the sky is literally the limit for Ian Simpson these days.

Plans are forthcoming for four huge skyscrapers on the Great Jackson Street site – long a key development target for the council and across the road from First Street, next to the Mancunian Way – containing a whopping 1,400 apartments.

Effectively creating an entirely new neighbourhood, the cluster of blocks would reach a massive 64 storeys at their highest, far outstripping anything else either built or planned in the city at present.