need for urgent repair works to parts of the glass panel façade. History The site was next to a redundant section of railway viaduct. With the support of English Heritage and the recommendation of the planning department, the Beetham Organisation submitted a planning application to Manchester City Council in July 2003. Planning permission was granted in October 2003. The skyscraper was part of Manchester's regeneration, and by the end of 2003, before construction had started, 206 of its 219 flats, and four of its 16 penthouses had been pre sold. The skyscraper was built when much of the United Kingdom was experiencing an economic boom and high rise towers were being built in many English cities. Ground and foundation works commenced at the beginning of 2004, and construction started in April 2004. By August 2004, work on its twin concrete cores had started and the structure was rising at a steady rate. One of the cores reached at the end of July 2005, at which point the building became the tallest skyscraper in the United Kingdom outside London. The tower was "topped out" on 26 April 2006. Local wind conditions dictated its height had to be reduced by about from the planned . The hotel opened on 9 October 2006, and the first apartment residents moved in during 2007. The skyscraper cost £150 million to construct. In 2010, Braemar Estates, part of Braemar Group, were awarded a contract for management of the building. In 2018, Braemar Estates rebranded as Rendall & Rittner, taking the name of the managing agent which bought it out the year before. Architecture The building stands on a narrow site on Deansgate at the junction with Great Bridgewater Street and Liverpool Road. Its tall rectangular form maximises the available space. On the 23rd storey a cantilever projects by 13 feet (4 metres), increasing its floor space and giving the tower definition. On the roof is a glass overrun, described as a "glass blade" by the architect. The ten-metre blade accentuates the flat south façade, contrasting with the north façade, and doubles as a lightning rod. The tower was built by Carillion using post-tensioned flat slab concrete construction techniques and was the first structure in the United Kingdom to use the Doka SKE 100 automatic climbing system and trapezoidal windshield. Piling foundations are typically preferred for skyscrapers; however, Manchester's sandstone substrata meant a raft foundation. The 2.5-metre