Many thanks to Tom for this article, keep yourself updated on Co-op's HQ by visiting http://www.toms-travels.net/?p=4089

The Co-Operative Society is a big player in Manchester running their ethical businesses from the city for over 100 years. Their insurance wing, which will never invest in any unethical company dealing with arms, tobacco etc, operates out of the CIS Tower, covered in its array of solar panels on Miller Street.

The retail wing operates out of a series of Victorian buildings across the city so they decided to build a new HQ for this wing across Miller Street from the CIS Tower. Run on the same ethical values as the insurance business, the new building will have as light a touch on the environment as possible while still looking stunning. It’s built on a piece of land called Angel Meadows which sounds lovely but was,in fact, one of the worst slums in Victorian Manchester. Building was held up while archaeologists excavated the site to see what they could uncover – a whole lot of human misery I believe. Once the new building is up and running the old buildings will be refurbished as the Co-Op has plans to turn this part of the city into a new business district.

There’s been a lot of progresss here since I last photographed the project. The service towers seem to have reached as high as they are going to go compared with the previous picture.