Falling glass, a £23m bill and a Cypriot billionaire: The never-ending nightmare at Beetham Tower

Dear readers — For more than a decade, Beetham Tower has been at the centre of a complicated and bitter dispute. 

Once the tallest residential building in Europe, the tower retains a sort of iconic status among the growing Manchester skyline. Unfortunately, a defect in the building’s cladding has prompted a legal battle unresolved in seven years. In 2023, a glass panel fell from the side of the building and shattered on Great Bridgewater Street.

Since 2021, the tower has been owned by Cypriot billionaire John Christodoulou. Christodoulou is one of the UK’s biggest developers and employs 7,000 people in the UK alone via his Yianis Group. He’s said to be worth £2.5 billion. 

Yet, since his purchase of Beetham Tower, the cladding issue remains unresolved. That’s despite the fact a judge ruled in 2019 in the High Court the building is “in disrepair” and should be fixed within 18 months. 

The consequence of this is that — according to local estate agents — the building’s flats are virtually not “sellable” on the open market. Meanwhile, leaseholders have told The Mill they’ve been left in thousands of pounds of debt due to increased service charges. An independent report two years ago recommended the glass panes be replaced in full — but no action has been taken. 

Well, until yesterday, that is. A few hours after The Mill got in touch with Christodoulou’s company, the building’s leaseholders suddenly received an email saying a separate company had been appointed to identify measures to fix the façade. That said, given this issue has now been going on for well over a decade, few of the leaseholders are likely holding their breaths.

Deansgate Freehold Limited, the company that owns Beetham, told The Mill the tower isn’t unsafe because of regular maintenance checks to the cladding, and that major works have been carried out since it acquired the building due to years of underinvestment. The spokesperson added that the landlord has “appointed independent experts” to assess remedial options and has approached the government for funding support — but hasn’t yet received a response. 

John Christodoulou didn't respond to multiple requests for comment from The Mill.

It appears to have taken The Mill's prompting for the company in charge of Beetham Tower to finally take the steps to resolve a cladding issue that has dragged on since their purchase of the building in 2021, causing immense stress and financial loss for Beetham's leaseholders.

It's one small example, but it goes to show the importance of having an independent press who are willing to hold powerful institutions and individuals in Manchester to account.

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Falling glass, a £23m repair bill and a Cypriot billionaire: Inside Beetham Tower

In 2021, Manchester’s most iconic tower was sold to a “mystery buyer”. That’s how the MEN reported it. At that time, Beetham Tower was seven years deep in a highly complicated legal dispute, essentially centring on a defect in the building’s cladding.

For more than a decade now, the defect has remained unfixed — making the flats not “sellable” on the open market according to estate agent Julie Twist. Its residents refer to the building as “Faulty Towers”.

It was hoped at the time a change in ownership would help bring the dispute to some kind of conclusion. Geoff Edwards, who chaired the tower’s Residents' Association, was among the hopeful. “It can only be seen as a good thing. The ongoing issue of the windows will be taken on by the new owner. We're very happy that the situation has been resolved,” he told the MEN.

Edwards might have spoken too soon. Another five years have brought little in the way of progress at Beetham Tower. While the previous owners were confident that handing over the reins would prompt a swift solution (which had been mandated in court in 2019), this has not come to pass.

The so-called “mystery buyer”, it turned out, was none other than Cypriot billionaire John Christodoulou. The 61-year-old lives in the tax haven of Monaco and, according to The Sunday Times Rich List, has been a billionaire since 2015. He’s reported to be worth £2.5bn.

While he’s engaged in many philanthropic endeavours (for which he has received an award from the Royal Family of Monaco), Christodoulou’s controversial business practices have brought him frequent press attention. He holds the title of being the first freeholder landlord the UK government has pursued for remediation under the Building Safety Act, after the government and then secretary of state Michael Gove sought £20.5m in 2024 from his companies to fix the cladding on a block of flats they own in London.

He was also featured in reporting by Novara Media earlier this year, after it transpired he had lied to a trade publication about having repaid more than £250,000 he owned to tenants at two London properties. Christodoulou had successfully threatened the publication into taking down accurate reporting.

Yacht parties and falling glass

David Baddeley is standing in the lift of Manchester’s most iconic skyscraper, waiting to reach his flat, when two men wearing helmets and harnesses get in. It’s 2019.

The lift has just passed the dramatic cantilever that separates Beetham Tower from the building’s hotel, and is ascending towards the residential flats above. Baddeley, 46, looks at the men, coiled ropes dangling from their waists. 

“You alright guys? Are you here to clean the windows?” he recalls asking. 

“No. They’re falling out,” one of them responds.