Castlefield when Beetham Tower was under construction.

“Euan was lucky enough to work on the project.”

Following on from last week’s post it seemed only fair to continue the Castlefield theme - this time going back to the beginning of 2005 when Beetham Tower (now The Manchester Deansgate Hotel, by IHG) was under construction.

Euan was lucky enough to work on the project and says “it felt like such an exciting time to be in the city as the building started to rise from the ground, getting taller and taller each week!”

Also visible on the right hand side is the former Quay Bar, which opened in 1998 and was demolished in 2007.

Huge thanks to Chris Burnett of Chris Burnett Associates for kindly providing the original photo.

The bottom photo was taken February 2026 and shows the scale of the change over the past 21 years. This includes (left to right):

The completed Beetham Tower;
Hampton by Hilton Manchester City Centre;
Viadux, by Salboy (all three schemes designed by SimpsonHaugh); and,
Castle Wharf, designed by OMI Architects and delivered by RENAKER.