Have you noticed that one of Manchester’s newest and most eye-catching structures is finally living up to its name?
The Tower of Light structure has been officially switched on.
Marking a milestone in the development of the city’s new Civic Quarter Heat Network, the 40m tower – which was officially finalised back in August 2020, and became the talk of the city not long after – will now be lit up in a series of striking colours every night, with Manchester City Council describing it as “the most visible manifestation” of the Council-owned network – which is providing heating and electricity to some of Manchester city centre’s most iconic buildings.
The Civic Quarter Heat Network – which will go live in early 2022 – will not only help the buildings to reduce their carbon emissions, but also support the city’s transition to zero carbon by 2038.
The Tower of Light is now shining bright! 💡
Located at the heart of Manchester's new low carbon Civic Quarter Heat Network, it's part of the city's transition to zero carbon and will be lit up every night.https://t.co/Hu2C71UR0Jpic.twitter.com/PmFo35Wksw
In case you’re unfamiliar with what the Tower of Light actually is and what it does for the city, the structure contains a 3.3MWe CHP engine and two 12MW gas boilers, is made up of nine sections called ‘drums’ – each one measuring 4m wide, 6m long, and 4m high, with a 1.8m crown section – and essentially acts as the chimney for the low-carbon energy centre.
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The Tower of Light’s energy centre is projected to generate electricity and harness the recovered heat from this process for distribution via a 2km district heating network – which will supply heat for the buildings.
Using low carbon power generated in an energy centre located underneath the railway arches by Manchester Central, the network will serve the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester Central Convention Complex, Central Library, Heron House, Manchester Art Gallery and Manchester Town Hall and Town Hall extension buildings, via 2km of underground pipes.
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And the network will also have the capacity to connect to other buildings in the vicinity, helping them to reduce their carbon footprints too.
The Civic Quarter Heat Network will help the city’s buildings reduce their carbon emissions / Credit: Manchester City Council
“The Civic Quarter Heat Network is a trailblazing system which demonstrates Manchester’s determination to cut our carbon emissions,” explained Cllr Tracey Rawlins – Executive Member for Environment at Manchester City Council.
“”It’s a complex challenge, but ambitious projects such as this network show that we are taking action to rise to it, [and] as well as looking beautiful, we hope that the Tower of Light will be a beacon for this kind of work.”
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Mike Cooke – Managing Director for the North and Scotland at Vital Energi, the company that built the network – added: “The flue’s innovative lighting scheme, paired with the partially transparent ‘Wall of Energy’, allows the public to catch a glimpse inside the energy centre.
“[And it] ensures the Tower of Light will become an iconic feature to Manchester’s skyline.”
You can find out more about the Tower of Light and what it means here.
Featured Image – Manchester City Council
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Manchester’s historic Portico Library secures £6.4m funding grant towards its transformation
Emily Sergeant
Manchester’s Portico Library has secured a whopping £6.4 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
In case you missed it, ambitious plans to transform the historic Grade II-listed building on Mosely Street were already unveiled last October… but now, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has announced it is committing £6.4 million of funding towards the project, hoping that the building thrives as the UK’s most sustainable historic library for generations to come.
The grant is being described as a ‘major milestone’ in the approximately £12 million Portico Reunited project.
The Portico Reunited project will look to ‘reunite’ the historic building’s three floors for the first time in over a century, creating a fully-accessible and sustainable cultural library.
Founded all the way back in 1806, The Portico Library played a central role in Manchester’s rise as the world’s first modern city, and since then has been serving as a window into the past and a providing a place of inspiration for anyone who needs it.
The Portico Library has secured a £6.4m funding grant towards its transformation / Credit: Purcell Architecture (Supplied)
Crucially, plans will see a step-free entrance and lift installed to make the library accessible to all.
There’ll also be new exhibition and event spaces introduced as part of the scheme to explore the stories of Manchester’s communities and the city’s heritage. There will a Northern Bookshop, showcasing regional and emerging writers, and independent publishers, as well as a creative Portico Kitchen, which will celebrate the city’s food culture, writing, and history.
A place for school groups, families, and all people to explore Portico’s collection and experiment creatively also forms part of the plans.
Dr Thom Keep, Librarian and CEO of The Portico Library, called the funding grant a ‘landmark moment’ in the Portico’s ‘rich and complex history’, and a ‘huge achievement’ for its staff, trustees, volunteers, and partners.
“Thanks to National Lottery players, we can reunite this extraordinary building and make room for people to discover, learn and create together,” he added.
“We have listened to thousands of people about what the Portico could become, and their ideas and experiences have helped shape these plans.
“Our ambition is a library that belongs to the whole city – a place to discover remarkable collections, question the stories we have inherited, and create new possibilities together.”
Manchester City Council has granted planning permission and listed building consent for the project, and the building is expected to close for construction in late spring 2028 and reopen once again in early March 2030.
Following reopening, the transformed library is expected to welcome around 95,000 visitors each year.
Featured Image – Purcell Architecture (Supplied)
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New data estimates that 7.3m Oasis fans are set to miss out on 2027 tour tickets
Emily Sergeant
New data has revealed that as many as 7.3 million Oasis fans could be set to miss out on tickets to the band’s 2027 tour.
In case you need bringing up to speed a little, it was announced earlier this week that, following the unprecedented success of the reunion tour, Oasis Live ’25, last year, including five nostalgia-drenched gigs at Manchester’s Heaton Park, Oasis would be hitting the road once again in 2027, and this time around, they’re going BIG.
We’re talking 11 nights at the Etihad Stadium and a return to the iconic grounds of Knebworth for four special shows there too, kind of ‘big’.
The iconic Manchester band will also be taking to a range of other world-famous stages across the globe, including five nights at Glasgow’s Celtic Park, and major cities like Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, and Las Vegas.
But despite the elevated number of dates the Gallaghers and co will be performing, some new data has unfortunately revealed that millions of fans may still not be lucky enough to snag a ticket.
The ticketing system for Oasis Live ’27 is not what it was for the last tour, nor will it be similar to many other tours of a similar scale in the past either, as this time, the band and their promotors are taking necessary measures to ensure ‘genuine fans’ get their hands on the tickets and that dynamic pricing doesn’t creep in.
Instead of going into detail on that now though, you can read our full guide on how to get tickets for the Manchester and Knebworth shows here.
Experts at online ticketing platform TicketSource have analysed the scale of demand for Oasis tickets by comparing the 10 million fans worldwide who queued for the initial release of 1.4 million tickets for their 2025 tour, with the newly announced 2027 tour dates and stadium capacities.
With an estimated 2.67 million tickets available across 38 dates and 11 locations between 21 May and 19 September 2027, Oasis could still face huge demand from fans hoping to see them live.
But research reveals the band would need to play 112 Wembley-sized shows to accommodate everyone who tried to get a ticket in 2025.
The 2027 tour would accommodate just 26.7% of those who tried to get tickets last time, meaning almost three-quarters (73%) of them could miss out, leaving a shortfall of more than 7.3 million fans.
Fingers crossed you’re among the lucky lot that secure tickets, though.
Featured Image – Joshua Halling (Press Image – Supplied)
Emily Sergeant -
18th October 2021 
