It is 'one of the deepest excavations Manchester has ever seen' - and Gary Neville is behind it

Footballer turned property developer Gary Neville's £400m St Michael's scheme in the heart of Manchester has hit a landmark milestone.

And the former Manchester United skipper climbed into a massive hole dug out of the ground to celebrate the latest phase of the project - said to be 'one of the deepest excavations the city of Manchester has seen'. It will be filled with the foundations of the development's 41-storey tower and also house its car park and amenities.

The St Michael's scheme has been dubbed by the city's council leader a 'defining regeneration project for our city centre', with hundreds of new homes, a five-star hotel, a public square, offices and a roof-top restaurant on the way.

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Mr Neville's company Relentless Developments, alongside high-rise specialist Salboy, is developing the £400m St Michael's scheme off Deansgate.

Phase two of the project will include a 41-storey residential tower with a five-star hotel. Builders from main contractor Domis have been excavating the site where the tower will stand - and have dug out 50,000 tonnes of material, equivalent to 4,167 double decker buses, reports BusinessLive.

Work on the tower's foundations can now begin. But before that, Neville and teams from Relentless, Salboy and Domis climbed into the ground to mark the moment excavations reached their lowest level.

The Sky TV football pundit said: "Reaching this point in the construction of St Michael’s was really important as anticipation builds for the development’s 41-storey tower. We know this landmark building is going to become an iconic part of Manchester’s