Whitworth Street West Residential Tower, Manchester housing, Modern English architecture
Whitworth Street West Residential Tower in Manchester
6 January 2025
Architect: Sheppard Robson
Location: Whitworth Street West, Manchester, Northwest England, UK
Images: Sheppard Robson
Whitworth Street West Residential Tower, UK
Sheppard Robson submits plans for landmark residential tower on Whitworth Street West, Manchester
For client Glenbrook, Sheppard Robson has submitted a planning application to Manchester City Council for a 44-storey residential tower on Whitworth Street West in Manchester. With 364 apartments, the building’s design will embrace modern, sustainable design principles and be rooted in its context through new public spaces that enhance the streetscape and improve pedestrian connections.
The design draws on the heritage of the area with the façades referencing the tones and detailing of local landmarks across the city. The new building’s deep red terracotta façade, grand arches, and elegant column details nod to the industrial past, while the structure has been designed to embrace modern technologies that improve thermal and acoustic performance, ventilation, and daylighting.
At ground level, a dramatic triple-height, arched colonnade—a subtle nod to the architectural language of the listed viaducts and industrial heritage—provides a pedestrian route along Whitworth Street West. This strong base for the building creates connections to the newly created landscaped public spaces flanking the building and strengthens the links between Whitworth Street West, First Street, and Deansgate, offering amenities and increasing biodiversity in the area. Resident spaces on the ground floor, Level 1, and Level 2 will further animate the streetscape around the building.
The articulation of the three-storey base grounds the building within its context, while the continuation of the primary material from this base up the height of the tower creates a unified expression across the entire structure. The emphasis on vertical elements helps unify the tower with its base, while the horizontal stratification of the façade visually breaks down the building’s mass, responding to the layout and organisation of the floorplates.
The massing has been carefully shaped to respond to the surrounding urban context, with a lower three-storey setback that aligns with nearby streetscape elements. The overall height of 44 storeys integrates with the emerging tall building clusters in New Jackson and Deansgate, while the reduced building footprint creates space for new public realm and pedestrian routes.
The design features a 60/40 solid-to-glazing façade ratio that reduces solar gain while allowing natural light and ventilation. Around 80% of spaces are naturally ventilated to minimise energy use, and off-site construction methods and modular façade systems reduce material waste. Energy-efficient technologies, including air source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels, support a low-carbon future for the building.
Tony O’Brien, Partner at Sheppard Robson, said:
“By opening up the site, we are creating vibrant public spaces and pathways that enhance connections across this part of the city. The building’s terracotta, high-performance façade references both the existing and historic context while introducing a distinctly modern addition to the evolving skyline of Manchester.”
Whitworth Street West Residential Tower, Manchester, UK – Building Information
Architect: Sheppard Robson – https://www.sheppardrobson.com/
Client: Glenbrook
Planning Consultant: Deloitte
Structural and Civil Consultant: AKT II
Façade Consultant: AKT II
MEP Consultant: Futureserv
Landscape Architects: Layer Studio
Fire Consultant: OFR
Sustainability Consultant: Mainer
Acoustic Consultant: Hilson Moran
Transport Consultant: Curtins
Cost Consultant: Quartz
Wind/Daylight Consultant: GIA
Renders: Sheppard Robson
Whitworth Street West Residential Tower, Manchester, UK images / information received 060125
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