{"id":840493,"date":"2026-03-21T10:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T10:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/840493\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T10:47:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T10:47:18","slug":"inside-liverpools-battle-with-manchester-to-become-new-york-of-the-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/840493\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Liverpool’s battle with Manchester to become ‘New York’ of the North"},"content":{"rendered":"

High in the clouds, the competition is heating up.<\/p>\n

Liverpool used MIPIM, the UK\u2019s premier property conference held in Cannes last week, to announce it wants to build a 70-storey skyscraper that would be the tallest building outside London.<\/p>\n

Local leaders, including the Labour mayor Steve Rotheram see it as a symbol of the city\u2019s changing fortunes \u2013 a place with big ambitions and the ear of Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s government<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n

But just 30 miles down the road, their long-time rivals in Greater Manchester are up for the fight, with a 77-storey tower in the pipeline, which would become the UK\u2019s third-tallest building and immediately take Liverpool\u2019s crown. Manchester\u2019s rapid accumulation of skyscrapers has given rise to the nickname \u2018Manc-hattan\u2019.<\/p>\n

Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield also have plans for their own tallest buildings in the pipeline and Cardiff announced proposals for Wales\u2019 biggest skyscraper earlier this month.<\/p>\n

So why are so many places, especially cities in the north of England, reaching for the skies?<\/p>\n

With better rent yields and more development opportunities, experts say the UK\u2019s property market is undergoing a shift away from an overheated London bubble.<\/p>\n

Building a luxury skyscraper represents a statement of success, experts say, but also means cities can offer the kind of \u201cNew-York-style lifestyle\u201d of glitzy, high-rise living aspired to by many in the social media age.<\/p>\n

There are concerns, however, that high-rise towers fail to tackle the country\u2019s chronic shortage of affordable housing and are often used by foreign investors to earn vast profits.<\/p>\n

The \u2018shift north\u2019 in city-centre living<\/p>\n

James White, professor of Planning and Urban Design at the University of Glasgow, said London\u2019s market for high-rise buildings has \u201centirely fallen out and there\u2019s now no appetite to build any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cYet at the same time, there\u2019s been this sort of shift north.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve also got this new political context where they\u2019ve all got mayors and combined authorities and these mayors are looking to put the city on the map.<\/p>\n

\"HighManchester city centre has seen a boom in development over the last decade (Photo: Mary Turner\/Bloomberg\/Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey [mayors] become a big figurehead for the city, I think Andy Burnham [in Manchester] has proved that can be effective.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised if the city leaders in Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham look to Manchester with some envy and think \u2018Manchester is demonstrating what can be done\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hugh Frost, chairman of development company Beetham Davos, which is behind Liverpool\u2019s new skyscraper, is now aged 75 and has been frustrated by the pace of change in his home city in recent decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about time Liverpool had something like this,\u201d he told The i Paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that ambitious buildings have their own message for where a city is up to, and where it\u2019s going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last time Liverpool built a new tallest building was in 2008, with the 40-storey Beetham Tower West.<\/p>\n

Since then, the global financial crash<\/a> and allegations of corruption within Liverpool\u2019s local government have seen investors look elsewhere, most notably in Manchester.<\/p>\n

There, the city centre now expands outwards into parts of Salford and Trafford and has no less than 15 buildings that are at least 40 storeys or higher.<\/p>\n

\"\"Liverpool\u2019s skyscraper would be the tallest building outside London if completed first (Photo: Beetham Davos)<\/p>\n

By comparison, Liverpool has been damaged by a number of stalled developments that have seen investors lose their money.<\/p>\n

The new skyscraper proposal is being backed by Tom Morris, the local billionaire behind the Home Bargains stores.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not stupid enough to turn a blind eye to the fact we\u2019ve had some reputational damage,\u201d said Rotheram.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows you how much we\u2019ve recovered from those knockbacks that people are now wanting to put their money where their mouths are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018We don\u2019t want to be Manchester 2 \u2013 we\u2019ll do it our own way\u2019<\/p>\n

Rotheram acknowledges there may be some friendly rivalry taking place with Liverpool\u2019s ambition to overtake Manchester in a skyscraper war \u2013 \u201cit\u2019s \u2018my dad\u2019s bigger than your dad\u2019 isn\u2019t it\u201d, he joked.<\/p>\n

But he believes Liverpool \u2013 which received a further \u00a395m in funding from Chancellor Rachel Reeves in a new package for building homes in northern cities this week \u2013 can now afford to do things its own way.<\/p>\n

\u201cManchester\u2019s great, I\u2019m not knocking it at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we don\u2019t want \u2018Manchester 2\u2019 here, we want to be our own area with our own particular way of developing out the assets that we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CainCirrus Point in Leeds is set to be Yorkshire\u2019s tallest building when it opens later this year (Photo: Cain)<\/p>\n

The Chancellor has also announced plans to take the devolution of political power outside of Westminster even further and allow mayors to keep a share of taxes \u2013 they have already been given the green light to implement a \u201ctourist levy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rotheram said devolution has given northern cities like Liverpool \u201cconfidence\u201d and \u201can opportunity to shape your own destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Salford, plans have recently been approved for a 77-storey skyscraper that will eclipse the current tallest building in Greater Manchester, the 64-storey South Tower in Deansgate Square.<\/p>\n

If completed to its full height, only two buildings in the UK \u2013 The Shard and 22 Bishopsgate, both in London \u2013 will be taller.<\/p>\n

In Cardiff, a 50-storey skyscraper that will become the tallest building in Wales has been given the go-ahead. And Leeds is about to complete Cirrus Point, reportedly the tallest purpose-built student accommodation in the world, at 45 storeys high.<\/p>\n

\"CentralPlans have recently been approved to build Wales\u2019s tallest building in Cardiff (Photo: 5Plus Architects)<\/p>\n

High-rise living, whether for students or young professionals, is seen as a way of keeping hold of a city\u2019s talent pool.<\/p>\n

White believes developers selling apartments in cities like Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool have managed to successfully market \u201ca lifestyle\u201d as well as a place to live.<\/p>\n

Many skyscrapers come with state-of-the-art gyms, swimming pools, cinema rooms and even roof terraces to do yoga or hang out and drink cocktails.<\/p>\n

A building in Manchester called Moda Living even offers residents cookery classes, Uber credit, use of a co-working space and a private room for parties.<\/p>\n

On its Instagram account, the company uses the hashtag<\/p>\n

\u201cLiveTheModaLife\u201d to reflect the fact that almost every aspect of residents\u2019 lives is entwined with their city centre apartment.<\/p>\n

\"\"Developers such as Moda offer gyms, cinema rooms and roof terraces at their developments (Source: @livethemodalife\/Instagram)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe adverts have that feel of a New York-style lifestyle, they have the bars downstairs, the images of the scantily-clad people swimming in the pool, it\u2019s marketing this young, urban image in this new, cosmopolitan city,\u201d Frost said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that for people who wish to live in the city centre, the only way really is up. But also, communities within buildings are something that\u2019s starting to evolve quite successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luxury towers are \u2018skin-deep policy approach\u2019<\/p>\n

White says the trend towards skyscrapers may also reflect changes to building safety regulations that came into effect following the Grenfell fire disaster in 2017.<\/p>\n

Towers are now required to have more complex cores and there are new rules around lifts and fire access that make them more expensive to build, he says.<\/p>\n

This might mean that buildings that are 10 to 15 storeys are not financially viable, whereas when it\u2019s a much taller tower, \u201cthe sums add up\u201d, White adds.<\/p>\n

Rotheram said while he endorses the new skyscraper in Liverpool, known as the Kings development, he acknowledges \u201cconcerns\u201d around both the potential damage to existing architecture and the broader housing market.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not putting a great big skyscraper next to St George\u2019s hall or the Albert Dock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re saying is there\u2019s a brownfield land policy\u2026 and there is a huge area where density would be an appropriate way of developing that out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people want to live in these things, we don\u2019t want them to leave Liverpool because they want to live in the city centre somewhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nowhere with the assets that we\u2019ve got in Liverpool city region, with the waterfront, the culture and the architecture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s become more and more attractive to investors, people are voting with their feet.\u201d
White agrees that Liverpool has \u201cso much cultural capital to build on\u201d and that high-rise development is a way of \u201cinternationalising the image of the city\u201d.<\/p>\n

But he warned there are examples of cities in other parts of the world \u2013 such as Toronto in Canada and Melbourne in Australia \u2013 where a boom in skyscrapers has been followed by a crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s, however, a bit of a skin-deep policy approach; I don\u2019t think it always works out,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has a tendency to leave those who need investment and support behind. It doesn\u2019t really do much for the people of Manchester who are struggling, nor will it do much for Liverpool in that respect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High in the clouds, the competition is heating up. Liverpool used MIPIM, the UK\u2019s premier property conference held…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,28,393,4884,179,2465,8892,16,15],"class_list":["post-840493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-britain","tag-buildings","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-liverpool","tag-manchester","tag-steve-rotheram","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116266772235556532","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}