[Batsy]

A Manchester skyscraper howls whenever it is windy.

The Beetham Tower, which houses both offices and apartments, is the tallest skyscraper in Britain outside London, but now it has been identified as the source of a eerie howling sound keeping the city's residents awake at night.

The noise has also disrupted filming of Coronation Street, the world's longest-running TV soap opera, which is filmed in the city.

Beetham Tower howls again after another windy night in Manchester

January 05, 2012
Manchester Evening News



Stormy conditions reportedly caused the Beetham Tower to hum for the second time this week, keeping city centre residents awake in the early hours.

We reported on Tuesday how city centre residents had been woken by the loud hum coming from the top of the 168m (551ft) tower. People used Twitter to report more humming overnight.

Loz Kaye (@lozkaye) tweeted: "Wow. #BeethamTower is howling loud tonight. I can hear it in my flat. #Manchester is now officially in a key of B."

Georgina Crosswell (@geemanc68) tweeted: "Three miles from city centre but can still just hear the #beethamtower whine. God knows what its like for those nearby."

Phil Burke (@philipburke1) told us: "It's been singing loudly in the wind all night, we could hear it on our car park all through the night at the Piccadilly Hotel."

Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford, has established that the resonance is at 240Hz. He said the Tower was playing: "about B below middle c for those who want to play along."

He added: "When you blow across the top of a beer bottle, the air moving across the edge creates a sound. The same thing is happening with the Beetham Tower, air moving across the edge of the fins on the top of the building create sound. (This is why an earlier temporary repair put foam across the edge of the fins, because this stopped the air making a sound.)

"The air movement then excites a resonance, probably of the air gaps between the fins, but the panels might also be flexing. The lattice work on top of building has the panels all spaced the same distance apart, and the resonance at 240Hz is caused by this periodicity."

Residents have complained about the sound since the 47-storey building opened in 2006.

The noise disrupted the filming of Coronation Street with crews having to wait for the sound to die down before resuming takes at the studios on Quay Street.

In 2006, foam pads were fitted to the glass to dampen the noise and aluminium nosing was added in September 2007 but that still failed to silence the noise.

Last January, more work was carried out to address the problem but the tower continues to emit the sound in high winds, and was recorded making the noise last month.

Listen to the tower howling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2TMRbf6qug

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchesterevening ... manchester

[Gunnair]

Wow... that would be so annoying!

[DrCaleb]

Interesting tower though. It looks like it was partially finished, and made from scraps.

[Bruce_E_T]

DrCaleb wrote:

Interesting tower though. It looks like it was partially finished, and made from scraps.

Right. It is easily the dominant feature of the landscape as well.

Wonder if they could find some more scraps to fix it up? That noise would drive me insane.

[sandorski]

Creepy sound from a creepy looking building. It's like something out of City 17.

[DanSC]

It's Manchester...there will be plenty of scraps to fix it.

If they need more though we'll ship over some from Detroit.

[EyeBrock]

Its not the only thing that howls in Manchester.

[ShepherdsDog]

Isn't it quieter since you left?

[DanSC]

Na, all the ladies be howlin' for EyeBrock's return.

[EyeBrock]

Even dogs need lovin'.

[ShepherdsDog]

DanSC wrote:

Na, all the ladies be howlin' for EyeBrock's return.

he does love his K 9 assignments.