Manchester’s CIS building is as iconic as any in the city, standing proud as the highest skyscraper in town ever since it was completed in 1962.
It was replaced as the tallest building in Manchester with the completion of the Beetham Tower back in 2006, and since then has been dwarfed by a spate of new arrivals, mostly down at the Deansgate Square development.
The building was occupied by Cooperative Insurance for many years, before they moved to NOMA opposite and left it vacant.
Back in 2017, a company called Castlebrook bought the tower for a cool £66m and, with help from a £60m loan from Trafford Council, will be embarking on an extensive refurbishment project.
The project will see the 425,000 sq ft building rebranded as ‘Society’ (another one!?) and split into three distinct parts – creating what the developers like to call – a ‘Vertical District’.
The three ‘zones’ will be:
Tower – 143,527 sq ft of workspace across 26 floors
Podium – 207,379 sq ft of the “largest and most flexible office floorplates in Manchester”
Street – food and beverage, retail, and leisure amenities at street level
A spokesperson from Castlebrooke explains: “Our redevelopment strategy continues this forward-thinking tradition, reimagining the building to form a vertical district that will attract distinct user types to its three component parts as the way we work and live in the city evolves.”
Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Society complements the established neighbourhood of vibrant communities in this part of the city and marks an exciting new era for the building and a creative re-imagining of an established working environment, which Manchester’s business community will no doubt embrace.”
The project is still in it’s very early stages but for more information – visit the Society website below…
