'I just get by - I can't afford to go out there'

As skyscrapers rise in Manchester city centre not everybody feels included in its success', write Ethan Davies & Chris Osuh

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IT'S an early autumn afternoon in town. Mancunians crane their necks at the steel-and-glass boxes which dominate the skyline, as they stop to talk to the M.E.N about how the city centre is changing.

Earlier, in the suburbs, the same conversations were had the same skyscrapers looming in the background. One of these towers has been completed every two months, on average, in the last five years. That's 27 since 2018, and, as we reported earlier this month, many more are on the way - 20 under construction, with another 51 proposed.

Fears and hopes about how Manchester city centre is evolving recently crystallised in a debate over the fate of an old carriage works at King Street West. The building is Grade II listed, but developers have been given permission to demolish it to make way for a 14-storey tower. The plans would leave part of the historic complex behind, but, campaigners argue, sacrifice a vital piece of heritage in the process - setting a dangerous precedent.

The decision - which campaigners hope the secretary of state will block - is a lightning rod for other big questions. What do we think of all these tall buildings, and are the designs as forward-thinking as they could be?

Does the city centre have the amenities to support a projected population of 100,000 by 2025, and where are the affordable houses?

Do people outside the relatively affluent bubble of city centre life feel excluded by the way things are going?

'THE KIDS I TEACH DON'T GO INTO TOWN - THEY DON'T FEEL PART OF IT'

Peter Jones, a teacher from Whalley Range, has mixed feelings on it all. We speak to him in Hulme - which has seen significant transformation of its own, from the terraces of the pre-slum clearance years, to the deck access blocks of the Crescent, and more recently, low rise apartment blocks, newbuild family homes, and student housing complexes.