Oxygen Tower, Manchester

Oxygen is a 32-storey neighbourhood in Manchester’s New Islington district. Our client had originally obtained planning permission using wind tunnel analysis. However the wind tunnel report raised wind microclimate issues and provided potential mitigation measures to resolve. However, the local authority was not happy with the extent of the mitigation measures in terms of their appearance and encroachment into the public highway.

GIA used CFD microclimate analysis to understand the exact wind flow that was causing the issues by interrogating the streamlines. We were then able to redesign the mitigation to target these specific streamlines. The mitigation included a modified bin store on site, which did not encroach on the public realm and highway, plus the use of strategic tree planting. This resulted in a reduction of the residual wind effect and approval from the local authority.

The use of CFD technology for this development provided commercial and innovative mitigation solutions saving our clients considerable time and money during the planning process.