This was is in the Citylife magazine today. Citylife is going to stop being printed next week on 7/12/05 because lack of sales. Anyway
Look around you. Construction of identi-kit apartments in the city shows no sign of overheating and the prices are falling. So who exactly are they building for, ask Phil Hamer.
No one seems to better express the pros and cons of living at the moment in the city centre Manchester than hotel workers Joao and Naomi. They both bought apartments a year ago in the Northern Quarter. For Joao, who is Portugesse, has had all his expectations fulfilled:
"For a while, i lived in Ardwick and i was burgled a lot so i didn't feel safe. I do now and i'm also within easy walking distance of my work. I also believe that the area where i live around Oldham Street is on the way up and it helps the city if people make thier homes in it. This apartment living is happening all over Europe and i've visited friends in Porto and Barcelona who have flats as i do. At my age," Joao is 23, "living like this suits me perfectly."
Naomi admits that she wished she'd been more careful shelling out her £125,000: "i did't realise how stifling it was going to be inside my flat in the summer we've just had. Friends envy me because i'm so close to clubs and bars and they say how convenient it is for my work, but in a way it's too easy because I opt to work longer or more shifts. I feel like a guinea pig and may flat's my treadmill. I get off it and go to work. I want to seel it now. One of my friends bought a decodent terraced house near Bury for the same amount I paid for for my place and she's really happy. She can relax in her garden on a nice day. Manchester has too few convenient green spaces."
She is also convinced that 40 is probably the cut-off age for city living. She says that she doesn't see families wanting these flats because at the moment there are hardly any doctors surgeries and schools and creches in the city centre.
Manchester is currently infatuated with apartment construction. The population of the city centre is set to expand from the current 15,000 to 45,000 in the next 10 years and the relevant local authorities in Manchester, Trafford and Salford are proud of this proposed expansion. it's when you realise that the city centre lacks a mature, well-established social infrastructure that misgivings arise. One experienced property developer said he feared a national economic downturn in a few years time could usher in a public spending slashing Tory government that would plunge city centre expansion of any type into chaos.
"For many, city centre apartments offer a major share in a lifestyle dream," says 70s folk singing icon, writer and actor, Mike Harding, who currently hosts a successful Radio 2 folk music programme. "I bought into that vision myself, if you like, 11 years ago when I was impressed by the way bookmaker Jim Ramsbottom developed the old warehouses near Dukes Quay much along the lines of the brilliant saltaire development near Bradford.
Harding bought a flat in the attractive and well planned Catle Quays complex.
"I wouldn't choose to by now", he says as he fires himself up to totally condemn the city counsil's fostering of apartment building. "Money dominates and every patch of green is developed. Flats mean revenue from people.
Never mind that there are no schools or health facilities -that's the council's attitude. We have the least amount of green spaces than any European city. Did you know that a third of Berlin is parks? I've found this out because I travel to many of these other cities.
I'm afraid this is all i can fit on the thread sorry!!!
Look around you. Construction of identi-kit apartments in the city shows no sign of overheating and the prices are falling. So who exactly are they building for, ask Phil Hamer.
No one seems to better express the pros and cons of living at the moment in the city centre Manchester than hotel workers Joao and Naomi. They both bought apartments a year ago in the Northern Quarter. For Joao, who is Portugesse, has had all his expectations fulfilled:
"For a while, i lived in Ardwick and i was burgled a lot so i didn't feel safe. I do now and i'm also within easy walking distance of my work. I also believe that the area where i live around Oldham Street is on the way up and it helps the city if people make thier homes in it. This apartment living is happening all over Europe and i've visited friends in Porto and Barcelona who have flats as i do. At my age," Joao is 23, "living like this suits me perfectly."
Naomi admits that she wished she'd been more careful shelling out her £125,000: "i did't realise how stifling it was going to be inside my flat in the summer we've just had. Friends envy me because i'm so close to clubs and bars and they say how convenient it is for my work, but in a way it's too easy because I opt to work longer or more shifts. I feel like a guinea pig and may flat's my treadmill. I get off it and go to work. I want to seel it now. One of my friends bought a decodent terraced house near Bury for the same amount I paid for for my place and she's really happy. She can relax in her garden on a nice day. Manchester has too few convenient green spaces."
She is also convinced that 40 is probably the cut-off age for city living. She says that she doesn't see families wanting these flats because at the moment there are hardly any doctors surgeries and schools and creches in the city centre.
Manchester is currently infatuated with apartment construction. The population of the city centre is set to expand from the current 15,000 to 45,000 in the next 10 years and the relevant local authorities in Manchester, Trafford and Salford are proud of this proposed expansion. it's when you realise that the city centre lacks a mature, well-established social infrastructure that misgivings arise. One experienced property developer said he feared a national economic downturn in a few years time could usher in a public spending slashing Tory government that would plunge city centre expansion of any type into chaos.
"For many, city centre apartments offer a major share in a lifestyle dream," says 70s folk singing icon, writer and actor, Mike Harding, who currently hosts a successful Radio 2 folk music programme. "I bought into that vision myself, if you like, 11 years ago when I was impressed by the way bookmaker Jim Ramsbottom developed the old warehouses near Dukes Quay much along the lines of the brilliant saltaire development near Bradford.
Harding bought a flat in the attractive and well planned Catle Quays complex.
"I wouldn't choose to by now", he says as he fires himself up to totally condemn the city counsil's fostering of apartment building. "Money dominates and every patch of green is developed. Flats mean revenue from people.
Never mind that there are no schools or health facilities -that's the council's attitude. We have the least amount of green spaces than any European city. Did you know that a third of Berlin is parks? I've found this out because I travel to many of these other cities.
I'm afraid this is all i can fit on the thread sorry!!!
