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Circle Square, Oxford
Road & Charles Street
This site was once home to the
BBC in Manchester before they moved to Media City in
Salford. The building was demolished in 2012
and for a period of time the site became a car park.
(you can see images of the old building before,
during and after demolition further down this
page) The site is now the location of a huge
new development called "Circle Square". The developers
describe it as follows, "Circle Square is
an exciting and very special new community
that, in all, will take eight years to
complete. It will be delivered in three
phases, with nearly two thirds in place in
just four years’ time, including over 1200 new
homes and more than 500, 000 square feet of
offices, a hotel, shops, restaurants, bars and
more."
             - The construction phase -     ************************       The first element of the
Circle Square development to be completed was
the VITA student accommodation blocks at the
back of the site along the side of the River
Medlock. Although building work was
obviously still underway in December of 2017,
there were signs welcoming students to the
facility.
    ************************
Below are images taken during the
construction stage of the VITA complex.
 Below March of 2017.
          2016       *****************
I took the images below in November of 2015 during the early stages of transformation from a parking lot to a construction site. Heavy equipment was breaking up the concrete surfaces and a lone worker was painting plywood boards for erection around the perimeter.    Since 2014 this site had been a
parking lot.
 Prior to that it had
been home to the Manchester Headquarters of the
BBC. Following the completion of Media City in
Salford, all BBC business in this building came to an
end and in September of 2012 it was demolished.
 The only thing that remains to remind
us of the fact that the BBC once operated here is a row
of metal bollards along Oxford Road displaying the BBC
crest.
 ***************************** The BBC moved into
this building after leaving their former headquarters
at 33-35 Piccadilly. It was built in 1974 by the
BBC's chief architect R. A. Sparks.
   I took the images below on
September 9, 2012 when the demolition was well
underway.
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