Outgoing chief of Manchester council makes comments after Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs admit they will redesign their brace of towers
The outgoing chief executive of Manchester City Council has admitted architects face a 鈥渉uge challenge鈥� in creating towers that complement rather than jar with city landscapes.
Howard Bernstein, who became council boss in 1998, has spearheaded the regeneration of swathes of Manchester and been a leading supporter of former chancellor George Osborne鈥檚 northern powerhouse initiative.
Bernstein said people who objected to tall towers on design grounds needed to be 鈥渞espected鈥� and added: 鈥淭here鈥檚 a little bit of nimbyism [鈥 but there are some very serious points that need to be totally respected over what people believe constitutes quality and it鈥檚 really a huge, huge challenge for the design community.鈥�
He was speaking as Manchester United footballers-turned-developers Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs admitted that their plans for a brace of towers in a Manchester city centre conservation area needed to be changed.
It follows a welter of criticism from heritage groups for the scheme, which has been designed by Make but was attacked by Historic England for the 鈥渟ubstantial harm鈥� it would inflict on Manchester if it was allowed to go ahead.
The 拢140m city centre site, once known as Jackson鈥檚 Row but now called St Michael鈥檚, has the support of the council 鈥� Neville interviewed Bernstein at last week鈥檚 Mipim property fair at a session celebrating his career 鈥� and Bernstein said he was 鈥渢otally in favour of tall buildings鈥� providing they were of the right quality and in the right locations.
He told 黑洞社区: 鈥淯nless we build high density in tall buildings in our town centres and regional centres there鈥檚 going to be a lot more green belt that鈥檚 needed because you鈥檙e creating the urban sprawl.鈥�
He said tall buildings needed to be managed in such a way that a balanced city landscape is created.
鈥淥ther cities in the world manage to create this balance beautifully 鈥� America is obviously one example of that. I don鈥檛 see why we can鈥檛 create this balance.鈥�
Bernstein, who steps down later this spring, said more devolution is needed particularly around skills and education, and called for a plan for fiscal devolution.
The government鈥檚 current funding models such as PF2 are 鈥渂ust,鈥� Bernstein said, adding that new ways of funding public transport had to be found 鈥� a concern which had prompted the council to go overseas to court international financiers.
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