CIS Tower

The tower is situated on Miller Street, which forms the Manchester Inner Ring Road, and stands adjacent to New Century House, a high-rise office building also designed by Gordon Tait and G. S. Hay and constructed concurrently for the CIS's parent company, the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS).{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1255052|title=New Century House|work=Historic England|date=26 April 2013|access-date=7 November 2021}} The plot on which the building stands had been heavily bombed during World War II and subsequently cleared.{{NHLE |num=1270494 |desc=Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) building, Miller Street, Manchester |grade=II|access-date=23 August 2013|mode=cs2}} The site chosen for CIS Tower and New Century House was one of two areas of land offered by the local authority; the other site was in Piccadilly, but this came with the condition that any development scheme had to include shops and a hotel.{{cite web|url=http://www.bcu.ac.uk/Download/Asset/cd53b53d-be5a-49c8-aea0-ab0d9182b635|title=Trying to close the loop: post-war ring roads in Manchester|first1=Richard|last1=Brook|first2=Matthew|last2=Jarvis|work=Birmingham City University|date=|access-date=7 November 2021}} Not wishing to compromise their autonomy, the CIS board chose the Miller Street site.

Opposite the tower sits One Angel Square, which opened in 2013 and serves as the headquarters of the Co-operative Group (the successor to the CWS). The complex of buildings form NOMA (a portmanteau of 'North Manchester'), a {{convert|20|acres|abbr=off}} area of land previously known as the Co-operative Estate. The area was developed by the Co-operative Group in a joint venture with Hermes Investment Management. In 2017, the Co-operative Group sold its stake in NOMA to Hermes Investment Management in order to focus on its core retail business, however, it remains a tenant in several buildings.{{cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/70f6ff0c-e66c-11e7-8b99-0191e45377ec|title=Co-op Group sells remaining Manchester property|first=Andy|last=Bounds|work=Financial Times|date=21 December 2017|access-date=7 November 2021}} More than 6,500 people work in the neighbourhood.

File:New Century Hall.jpg

The office tower building rises above a five-storey podium block. Each of the podium floors is {{convert|75 x 55|m|ft|abbr=on}}, providing {{convert|4,125|m2|ft2|abbr=on}} floor space per storey.{{sfnp|Cave|Duffy|Worthington|2016|p=29}} Each office floor in the tower is {{convert|18 x 44|m|ft|abbr=on}}, creating {{convert|727|m2|ft2|abbr=on}} floor space per storey.{{sfnp|Cave|Duffy|Worthington|2016|p=29}} The tower element consists of the steel-framed main office building and a windowless reinforced concrete service tower.{{sfnp|Kindred|Normandin|Macdonald|2007|p=51}} The service tower rises higher than the main office block and houses lifts and stairwells.{{Citation |title=Part-3 Air Conditioned Office Buildings|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-458645-cooperative-insurance-society-manchester|format = PDF|page = 12 |publisher=Heritage Group Website for CIBSE|date=31 October 2011}}

The building has a symmetrical plan, with the main tower rising up from the north-eastern end of the podium block and projecting at the front over the first two floors and the main entrance. The service tower is attached to the centre of the main tower's south-west side, forming a squat T-shape. In total, the building has {{convert|388,000|ft2|m2|abbr=on}} of floor area,{{cite web|url=https://www.insidermedia.com/news/north-west/cis-tower-snapped-up-for-more-than-65m|title=CIS Tower snapped up for more than £65m|first=Richard|last=Frost|work=Insider Media Limited|date=11 May 2017|access-date=8 November 2021}} with clear open spaces on the office floors.

Both the office tower and podium feature glass curtain walls with metal window frames. Black vitreous enamel panels demarcate the floor levels. The building materials, glass, enamelled steel and aluminium, were chosen so that the building could remain clean in the polluted Manchester atmosphere.

The tower's concrete service shaft, which rises above the office tower, has two bands of vents at the top and was clad in a mosaic made up of 14 million centimetre-square grey tesserae. designed to shimmer and sparkle.

===Interiors===

A green bronze-like, abstract mural sculpted by William Mitchell made from fibreglass covers the entrance hall's rear wall. Interiors were designed by Misha Black of the Design Research Unit. The executive areas are delineated by the use of teak and cherry wood veneers.

The CIS board of directors decided that a new headquarters was needed to accommodate its 2,500 staff, who were dispersed in 10 different buildings across Manchester.{{sfnp|Cave|Duffy|Worthington|2016|p=29}} In January 1953, CIS General Manager Robert Dinnage told his board to begin planning a new head office and that year entered into initial discussions with Manchester Corporation (now Manchester City Council).{{sfnp|Cave|Duffy|Worthington|2016|pp=29-30}} The design brief for the building, devised by Dinnage, was threefold: to convey the prestige of the CIS and the co-operative movement; to improve the appearance of Manchester in which the Society was one of the largest financial organisations; and to provide first-class accommodation for the staff.

The CIS board formed a chief office premises sub-committee to oversee the project. A deputation of appointed architects, designers and directors travelled to Italy, the United States and Canada to examine contemporary office design.{{cite web|url=http://www.mainstreammodern.co.uk/casestudies.aspx/Detail/1/cis-and-cws-buildings|title=CIS and CWS Buildings|work=Mainstream Modern|access-date=7 November 2021}} The tower's design was influenced by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Inland Steel Building in Chicago after a visit by the architects in 1958.{{Citation|title=History of the solar tower|url=http://www.goodwithmoney.co.uk/history-of-the-solar-tower|publisher=The Co-operative Bank|date=31 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425021238/http://www.goodwithmoney.co.uk/history-of-the-solar-tower|archive-date=25 April 2012|df=dmy-all}} Having viewed the Inland Steel Building, the project team decided to aim for clear unbroken floors unobstructed by lift shafts and toilets to provide maximum flexibility.{{sfnp|Cave|Duffy|Worthington|2016|pp=29-30}}

In 1958, the company proposed building an office tower block, designed by G.S. Hay, chief architect of the CWS with Gordon Tait of Sir John Burnet, Tait and Partners.

Construction began in September 1959 and was completed in 1962 at a cost of £3.98 million (equivalent to approximately £86.8 million in 2020).{{sfnp|Cave|Duffy|Worthington|2016|p=29}}{{Citation |title=CIS Tower |url=http://www.skyscrapernews.com/buildings.php?id=118 |publisher=Skyscraper News |date=31 October 2011 |access-date=31 October 2011 |archive-date=16 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416163845/http://www.skyscrapernews.com/buildings.php?id=118 |url-status=dead }}{{Citation |title=Inflation Calculator|url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator|publisher=Bank of England|date=20 January 2021|access-date=8 November 2021}} The main contractors for the CIS Tower were John Laing Construction Ltd, with A.E. Beer as the structural engineering consultant, and O. Castick, Chief Engineer of CWS as the engineering services consultant.

The CIS Tower was officially opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 22 October 1962. At {{convert|118|m|abbr=on}}, the tower overtook the Shell Centre as the tallest building in the United Kingdom, a title it retained for a year until it was replaced by the Millbank Tower in London. It remained the tallest building in Greater Manchester until it was surpassed by the Beetham Tower in 2006.{{Citation |title=Green light for high living |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/3218247.stm|publisher=The BBC|date=31 October 2011}}

File:CIS Tower tiled in 2002.jpg

Within six months of construction, some of the mosaic tiles on the service tower became detached owing to cement failure and lack of expansion joints in the concrete. Although the tower was granted listed building status in 1995, falling tiles were an ongoing problem. English Heritage had to be consulted as alterations could change the building's appearance.{{citation |title=CIS Tower, Manchester April 2003 |url=http://www.c20society.org.uk/casework/reports/2003/cis-tower-manchester.html |publisher=The Twentieh Century Society |date=21 April 2007 |access-date=31 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813062133/http://www.c20society.org.uk/casework/reports/2003/cis-tower-manchester.html |archive-date=13 August 2011 |df=dmy-all }}

In 2004, CIS consulted Solarcentury with a view to replacing the deteriorating mosaic with 575.5 kW of blue building-integrated photovoltaic (PV) cells which would generate approximately 180,000 kWh (average of 20 kW) of electricity per year. The work was completed by Arup and at that time was the largest commercial solar façade in Europe. The PV cells made by Sharp Electronics{{Citation|title=CIS Tower, Manchester |url=http://www.sharpmanufacturing.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/sukm/hs.xsl/-/html/cis-tower-manchester.htm |publisher=Sharp Manufacturing |access-date=31 October 2011}} began feeding electricity to the National Grid in November 2005.{{Citation |title=Solar power tower hits city |url=http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/214468_solar_power_tower_hits_city |publisher = Manchester evening News |date=22 February 2003 |access-date= 24 October 2011}}{{Citation|title=CIS 'Solar Tower' Case Study|work=solarcentury |access-date=11 September 2007 |url=http://www.solarcentury.com/projects/commercial/cis_solar_tower |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070905124144/http://www.solarcentury.com/projects/commercial/cis_solar_tower |archive-date=5 September 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy}}

The project, which cost £5.5 million, was partly funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency which granted £885,000 and the Energy Savings Trust at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) contributed £175,000. The solar power project was chosen by the DTI as one of the "10 best green energy projects" of 2005.

KeyMT designed and installed a 40 seat cinema in the basement of the tower along with a training venue and discovery environment for staff inductions{{Citation|title=The Solar Tower|url=http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/aboutus/our-democracy/The-Co-operative-Group-Values-and-Principles/ourvaluesinaction/thesolartower/|publisher=The Co-operative Group|date=31 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914202936/http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/aboutus/our-democracy/The-Co-operative-Group-Values-and-Principles/ourvaluesinaction/thesolartower/|archive-date=14 September 2011|df=dmy-all}}

Upon its completion, the tower was praised by the architectural press and was awarded the bronze medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1962. In the 1990s, it was granted Grade II listed building status by English Heritage. The tower, described as "the best of the Manchester 1960s office blocks",{{Citation |title=The Co-operative Wholesale Society and the Co-operative Insurance Society Buildings |url=http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/cities/manchester/buildings-in-focus/the-cws-and-cis-buildings.html|publisher=Looking at Buildings|date=31 October 2011}} was listed for its "discipline and consistency".

{{commons category|Co-operative Insurance Tower}}

{{portal|Greater Manchester}}

• Listed buildings in Manchester-M60
• Building-integrated photovoltaics
• List of tallest buildings and structures in Greater Manchester

References

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Bibliography

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• {{cite book|editor-first=Colin |editor-last=Cave |editor-first2=Francis|editor-last2=Duffy|editor-first3=John |editor-last3=Worthington|year=2016|title=Planning Office Space|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=9781483103273}}
• {{cite book|editor-first=Bob |editor-last=Kindred |editor-first2=Kyle |editor-last2=Normandin |editor-first3=Susan |editor-last3=Macdonald |year=2007|title=Conservation of Modern Architecture|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781317704904}}

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Category:Photovoltaics

Category:Office buildings completed in 1962

Category:The Co-operative Group

Category:Office buildings in Manchester

Category:Grade II listed buildings in Manchester

Category:Skyscrapers in Manchester

Category:Office buildings in England

Category:Modernist architecture in England

Category:International style architecture in England