According to a survey by Deloitte’s during the first quarter of 2021, two thirds of chief financial officers of UK companies said that they expected their workforce to return to the office before the end of October 2021.
Some companies cited in a recent ConstructionNews.co.uk article noted that to entice workers back, office spaces need to be more attractive, with improved facilities and services. This is why the emphasis among many companies is not so much about quantity or size, but rather the quality of their office space.
In Manchester, many companies build skyscrapers, such as the Beetham Tower in Manchester, to make their mark on the city’s iconic skyline. Peter Rees, a professor at University College London’s Bartlett School of Planning, says that owning a skyscraper is not just about providing office space, but that they are “icons of wealth” and can be seen as a sort of trophy. He said that Manchester skyscrapers are not so much about the city’s needs, but about how they change the image of the city.
Planning applications for tall buildings in Manchester slowed down during the pandemic, but plans for new tall buildings are up in 2021, and Rees remains optimistic about the future of the skyscraper. He explains:
“Developers will always try to build tall rather than long and low, partly because you can get more on the same piece of land but also because it is much easier to reproduce the same thing floor by floor.”
