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City Tower, Manchester facts for kids

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City Tower
Sunley Tower, Manchester.jpg
General information
Status Complete
Type Office, Communication, Retail
Architectural style Modernist
Location Manchester, England
Coordinates 53°28′49″N 2°14′18″W / 53.48028°N 2.23833°W / 53.48028; -2.23833
Completed 1965; 60 years ago (1965)
Owner Schroders
Height
Antenna spire 123 m (404 ft)
Roof 107 m (351 ft)
Top floor 28
Technical details
Floor count 30
Floor area 20,905 m2 (225,020 sq ft)
Lifts/elevators 8
Design and construction
Architect Covell, Matthews & Partners
Developer Bernard Sunley & Sons

City Tower (once called Sunley House) is a very tall building in Manchester, England. It has 30 floors and stands 107 metres (351 feet) high! You can find it in the Piccadilly Gardens area of Manchester city centre. It offers some of the highest office spaces in the city.

Exploring City Tower

Manchester Portland Street New York Street 1107
A view of part of Piccadilly Plaza, showing City Tower

City Tower has entrances on York Street (now called New York Street) and Piccadilly Gardens. Over the years, the building started to look a bit old and worn out. Because of this, many businesses moved out.

Modern Makeover

In the late 1990s, there were plans to fix up the tower. However, these plans didn't happen until 2004. That's when a company called Bruntwood bought the whole Piccadilly Plaza area for £65 million.

They started a big project to make City Tower look new again. This included adding a fresh main entrance on the ground floor. They also repainted the building and added a cool glass section (called an atrium) to its sides. You might also see a large advertising screen outside, showing videos to people walking by in Piccadilly Gardens.

A Hub for Radio Waves

City Tower is a very important spot for radio in Manchester. It has many antennas on top! These antennas help broadcast local radio stations like XFM, Rock Radio, and Capital on FM. It also sends out signals for digital radio, including Digital One and BBC radio channels.

The Top Floors

The 28th floor of City Tower is special. It's the highest office space you can find in Manchester! This floor used to have a walkway all around the outside, but when Bruntwood took over, they changed it. They removed the walkway and put in much wider windows. This new design includes windows that go from the floor all the way to the ceiling, giving amazing views.

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