City is still living the HIGH life...

ACCOMMODATION ON THE RISE IN FIVE-YEAR BOOM THAT HAS TRANSFORMED CENTRE

- ALISTAIR HOUGHTON

MANCHESTER'S era of high-rise living shows no sign of stopping after a five-year boom that has transformed the city centre.

Finance giant Deloitte says the period from 2018 to 2023 was "transformative" for Manchester and Salford which have together seen 178 major building projects over the period, including 22,000 new homes.

Those projects also included 4,000 new hotel rooms, 3.5m sq ft of office and workspace, and 1.7m sq ft of educational facilities.

The figures are revealed in Deloitte's latest Crane Survey, an annual study of what's being built in Britain's major cities.

The latest survey says: "The period between 2018-2023 will be remembered for the advent of highrise living, alongside the delivery of all forms of supportive development."

In total 61 projects were on site in Manchester and Salford centres in 2023. The study shows that in 2023 alone, 2,402 new homes were completed across 10 schemes. There were also another 11,764 units under construction in 2023 - well above Manchester's average of 6,349 per year.