No. 1 Deansgate is the name and location of a medium-rise apartment building in
central Manchester
Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...
, England. It is the tallest all-steel residential building in the United Kingdom,
and one of the most expensive addresses in Manchester.
The building was completed in 2002, and is situated at the north end of
Deansgate
Deansgate is a main road (part of the A56) through Manchester City Centre, England. It runs roughly north–south in a near straight route through the western part of the city centre and is the longest road in the city centre at over one mile ...
close to
Manchester Cathedral
Manchester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George, in Manchester, England, is the mother church
Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother ...
.
Background
The building, characterised by a distinctive glass frontage and sloping roof, was built as part of the major redevelopment project that took place in the years following the
1996 IRA bombing. No. 1 was designed by
SimpsonHaugh and Partners
SimpsonHaugh (formerly Ian Simpson Architects) is an English architecture practice established in 1987 by Ian Simpson and Rachel Haugh. The practice has offices in London and Manchester. In 2014, the practice re-branded as Simpson Haugh & Par ...
, with engineers Martin Stockley Associates (now Stockley). Simpson's designs now dominate either end of Deansgate, with No. 1 and the equally imposing
Beetham Tower forming prominent glass 'bookends' to the thoroughfare.
Design and construction
The high building consists of 14 floors which provide 84 apartments, including eight penthouses. The apartments are above a retail level, high, and are supported by raking steel tubular columns in a manner reminiscent of Rotterdam's De Brug building. The raking columns allow the small close centred columns of the apartments to be channelled into large, widely spaced, columns of the retail section. This is due to apartments tolerating many closely spaced columns, whereas retail areas cannot.
[Martin Stockley Associates (2006). ''The Reluctant Engineer and other Manchester stories'': Martin Stockley Associates. ] The comparatively lightweight structure is principally constructed of steel, the skeleton balanced by precise weight ratios to ensure its stability.
The external treatment is juxtaposed to the concrete
Brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...
of the late 20th century. On the upper floors an almost
cubist form of architecture is suggested. The 20th-century appearance is further offset by louvred glass sloping walls.
Critics of the design have suggested the building has the air of a municipal, public, civil building.
Four penthouse suites were sold for £1.5m each in 2002, the most expensive residences sold in Manchester at the time.
References
External links
No 1 Deansgate on Skyscrapernews.comVirtual Tour from the BBC Manchester websiteEntry at EmporisLand registry sales data for 1 Deansgate
{{Manchester B&S
Buildings and structures in Manchester
Residential buildings completed in 2002
2002 establishments in England