Image: New Century Hall

Description: Co-operative Insurance Society Tower, Miller Street, Manchester. The best of Manchester's 1960s towers, and perhaps the best anywhere in the country. A thoughtful and deep-pocketed client, thoughtful architects, and top-quality materials serendipitously came together to prove that 1960s architecture can age gracefully while continuing to meet the needs of its users. Continuous occupation by those original clients helps too. The sleek twenty-five storey tower is glass, aluminium and black enamelled steel, materials chosen to resist the degrading effect of Manchester's dirty atmosphere. It was built 1959-62, the architects G.S. Hay of the CWS and Gordon Tait of Sir John Burnet, Tait & Partners, who drew inspiration from skyscrapers across the Pond. Grade II listed. Pevsner notes that "when the building was being planned the CIS General Manager set out three aims: to add to the prestige of the Society and the Co-operative Movement, to improve the appearance of the city and to provide first-class accommodation for staff. The aims were fulfilled, and continue to be forty years on."
Title: New Century Hall
Credit: From geograph.org.uk
Author: Stephen Richards
Permission: Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes