| Ian Simpson |
Beetham Tower, Manchester | | Personal information | | Name | Ian Simpson | | Nationality | British | | Birth date | | | Birth place | Manchester, England | | Work | | Practice name | Ian Simpson Architects | | Significant buildings | No. 1 Deansgate, Manchester
Beetham Tower, Manchester
Urbis, Manchester
Beetham Tower, Birmingham
Artists impression of Beetham Tower in Birmingham, UK File links The following pages link to this file: Beetham Tower ...
Beetham Tower, Manchester, 28 April 2006. ...
Manchester shown within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state United Kingdom Constituent country England Region North West England Ceremonial county Greater Manchester Admin HQ Manchester City Centre Founded 13th Century City Status 1853 Government - Type Metropolitan borough, City - Governing body Manchester City Council Area - Borough & City 115. ...
Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Unified - by Athelstan 927 AD Area - Total...
No. ...
Beetham Tower, Manchester, 28 April 2006. ...
The Urbis exhibition centre in Manchester. ...
Beetham Tower nearing completion in February 2006. ...
| Ian Simpson is an English architect and one of the partners of Ian Simpson Architects, established in 1987 with Rachel Haugh. The practice is based in the UK's third city of Manchester with offices in London. He has designed a number of buildings in England, including: Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Unified - by Athelstan 927 AD Area - Total...
An architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person who is involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ...
Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ...
Manchester shown within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state United Kingdom Constituent country England Region North West England Ceremonial county Greater Manchester Admin HQ Manchester City Centre Founded 13th Century City Status 1853 Government - Type Metropolitan borough, City - Governing body Manchester City Council Area - Borough & City 115. ...
This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...
Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Unified - by Athelstan 927 AD Area - Total...
Existing and under construction No. ...
Beetham Tower, Manchester, 28 April 2006. ...
The Urbis exhibition centre in Manchester. ...
Beetham Tower nearing completion in February 2006. ...
Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Planned buildings The Beetham Tower also known as Jumeirah Tower, is a skyscraper being planned for the South Bank, London. ...
Criterion Place is a proposed skyscraper development in Leeds, United Kingdom. ...
Leicester city centre, looking towards the Clock Tower Leicester (pronounced ) is the largest city and unitary authority in the English East Midlands. ...
The Albany Crown Tower (or simply the Albany Tower) is a planned development for the city of Manchester in England. ...
Leicester city centre, looking towards the Clock Tower Leicester (pronounced ) is the largest city and unitary authority in the English East Midlands. ...
Ian Simpson's Manchester Buildings Since the IRA bombing of 1996, Ian Simpson Architects have played a huge role in the reconstruction of Manchester, with many of the city's most notable new buildings having been desined by the firm. While a few of these projects, such as the Urbis Centre, have been met with almost unanimous acclaim by Mancunians, most of the company's other buildings have been somewhat more controversial. Detractors frequently describe Simpson's buildings as "souless glass towers"[citation needed], often complaining about the height and unattractive shapes of buildings such as The Beetham Tower on Deansgate.
One of Simpson's first completed projects was The Grand apartments on Aytoun Street in Manchester city centre. The building had originally been a warehouse in the mid 1800s and was later converted to a hotel. Simpson's firm changed the use of the building yet again, and the seven storey stone fronted building was divided into one to three bedroom "luxury apartments", one of the first such developments in the city. Simpson removed the old roof frame of the "winter garden" and used it as a feature in the lobby of the building. The new roof was an innovative floating design, suspended glass structure which was open-ended on all sides. While this roof worked perfectly well on an aesthetic level, it was a failure in practice. On a typically rainy Manchester day, the weather failed to remain outside the building, instead making the marble tiled floors dangerously slippery, especially on the upper floors[citation needed].
To this day, the rear of the building remains unfinished, with bare grey breeze blocks to the rear of the development. Residents also complain that the multi storey carpark to the rear (which was also a Simpson design, built at the same time as The Grand redevelopment) was poorly designed[citation needed], as people are easily able to jump from the top level of the carpark onto the flat rooftops of the apartments. This has become a popular late night activity for those leaving nearby clubs and pubs[citation needed].
2002 saw the completion of two more of Simpson's buildings in Manchester city centre - The Urbis and No. 1 Deansgate, both of which are glass skinned with sloping roofs. The Urbis was designed as a museum of the urban environment and arts centre. No. 1 Deansgate is a residential development, with retail outlets at ground level. The apartments feature an innovative "buffer zone", essentially glass enclosed balconies designed to reduce street noise and to aid interior climate control.
Neither of these developments were free of controversy however, with the Urbis struggling financialy[citation needed] despite being heavily subsidised. No. 1 Deansgate was subject to the wrath of its residents, when they complained that the waste disposal system smelt and the lifts repeatedly failed[citation needed], despite the £500 a month maintenance charges. There were also problems with the mechanical window cleaning system[citation needed], meaning the whole of the building's glass facade had to be cleaned by hand.
Simpson's most recently completed project is The Beetham Tower, again located on Deansgate. It is Europe's tallest mixed use building, with 48 floors, standing 169 metres tall. The tower contains a hotel accommodation for the first 22-floors, and a bar and lounge on the 23rd floor, both operated by Hilton; and residential apartments from the 24th floor up to the 48th floor.
This time the controversy has been caused by the unusual noise created by the wind blowing past the large blade which tops the tower. This caused problems for the producers of Coronation Street, which is filmed nearby, as the sound could clearly be heard when exterior scenes were being shot on windy days. This led to delays in filming as crew had to wait for the wind to die down before action could commence, however, this problem has now been solved. During the building of the tower, base jumpers managed to reach the top and parachute down to Deansgate below. This was witnessed by a passerby and reported to police, although the daredevils were not caught. It is thought that this was the first incident of base jumping in Manchester. It was also reported that due to the height of the tower, local residents, fearing a 9/11 style attack, began to take out terrorism insurance[citation needed].
One of Simpson's next projects is the Crown Albany Tower, again located on Auyton Street. It is of a similar design to the Beetham Tower, but with 44 floors, will be slightly smaller in height.
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