BBC
A building, believed to be Alberton House, has partially collapsed in front of witnesses
The ground “shook” as a city centre building partially collapsed in Manchester, witnesses have said.
The property, Alberton House, is at a demolition site near Bridge Street and Greater Manchester Fire Service (GMFRS) has confirmed no-one was in the building at the time.
Chloe Gallagher, who was stood outside the building at the time, told the BBC she heard an “almighty crash” as the building came down.
She said: “The dust clouds looked like they were coming across, so I grabbed my colleague and moved out of the way, but it was extremely loud and the ground shook as well.”
“We turned to look and the building was collapsing. It didn’t look planned, as there was lots of scaffolding still up and there were people in the building next door rushing to the windows to check what happened.
“I saw half the building collapsing then there was like this extreme dust cloud.
“We moved as soon as we saw the dust cloud coming towards us.”
GMFRS said crews were called to the scene at about 14:50 GMT.
Steve Wheeler, who was in the building next door, said: “I heard a loud bang. We were all looking at each other wondering what’s that?
“We didn’t think much of it. It sounded like something had landed on the building.”
Properties around Alberton House have been evacuated after it partially collapsed
The building is situated near the River Irwell opposite the Lowry Hotel.
Paul, who is based in a nearby property, said the noise sounded like “a train coming”.
“It was really slow and then there was a whirring sound and I turned around and thought it was a train or something and it just kept going.
“I didn’t expect anything like this to happen, I understand why they’ve closed the bridge now.”
Witnesses say they heard a loud band as the building collapsed