CIS Tower Manchester, Miller Street Building, Photo, Architect, Height, Date, England

CIS Tower : Manchester

Skyscraper Architecture in northwest England, UK – landmark English high-rise building

12 Aug 2006

CIS Tower Manchester

Location: Miller St, north central Manchester
Date built: 1962
Architects: Sir John Burnett Tait & Partners with GS Hay

Manchester CIS Tower

building photo © Adrian Welch 2006

118m tower

Until the Beetham tower in 2006 this was Manchester’s landmark skyscraper

he CIS Tower is an office skyscraper on Miller Street in north Manchester, walkable from the city centre.

It was completed in 1962 and rises to 387 feet in height. The Grade II listed building, which houses the Co-operative Banking Group, is Manchester’s second-tallest building and the tallest office building in the United Kingdom outside London.

The tower remained as built for over 40 years until maintenance issues on the service tower required an extensive renovation which included covering its facade in photovoltaic panels.

Manchester building photos © Adrian Welch, Apr 2010:

The tower was designed as a prestige headquarters to showcase the Co-operative movement in Manchester. In 1958 the company proposed building an office tower block, construction began the following year and was completed in 1962. It was designed by Gordon Tait of Burnett, Tait & Partners and Co-operative’s own architect, G. S. Hay. In the 1990s, it was granted Grade II listed building status by English Heritage.

The tower is part of a group with New Century House and its Conference Hall on Corporation Street.

The tower’s design was influenced by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Inland Steel Building in Chicago after a visit by the architects in 1958.

In 1962, at 387 feet, the CIS 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.

In 2006 the Beetham Tower overtook this skyscraper to become the tallest building in Manchester.

Co-operative Group – Site Masterplan Competition, north Manchester

Location: CIS Tower, Miller St, Location: Manchester, Northwest England Property, UK