Funding deal triggers £400m Mayfield first phase
Landsec will fund the construction of the first buildings at the emerging 24-acre Manchester district after striking a deal with the Mayfield Partnership.
The investor, which acquired developer U+I for £190m last year, has reached a deal with the Mayfield Partnership – made up of Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester, LCR, and U+I.
The deal will unlock the 800,000 sq ft commercial phase at Mayfield, which has a GDV of £400m, and allow Landsec to begin drawing down land from an agreed first phase along the south side of the city centre site.
The first plots available for draw down from this agreement include two office buildings totalling 320,000 sq ft, and a 581-space multi-storey car park. Planning consent for these projects was unanimously granted in February 2020.
“We are extremely proud of the work we have done with our partners at Mayfield to design a truly sustainable, mixed-use regeneration scheme for this important site in Manchester,” said Mike Hood, U+I’s chief executive.
“The opportunity to work with our colleagues at Landsec to fund this first phase of development at Mayfield is significant progress on a strategy to unlock our wider mixed-use regeneration portfolio and is a big step forward in our mission to become the best mixed-use regeneration investor and developer in the UK.”
Landsec/U+I could be on site in early 2023 with a 24-month programme to deliver of the first building, the 76,000 sq ft Poulton, and the car park. A contractor has yet to be appointed.
The Poulton will be the first building delivered at Mayfield. A 6.5-acre public park, which opened in September to much fanfare, was the first part of the project to complete.
A £23m government grant paid for the park.
The overall masterplan for Mayfield will see the delivery of more than 1.5m sq ft of commercial office space, more than 1,500 homes and a significant food, leisure and retail offer.
Cllr Bev Craig, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “The opportunity we created when the Mayfield Partnership was established was to bring significant change to this part of the city centre site that had sat under-used for too long.
“This deal is consistent with our long-term ambitions for Mayfield and is a natural next step from the delivery of the beautiful new park we completed this summer, which has created a green heart to the Mayfield regeneration area and was the first step towards this new neighbourhood – transforming the space between Ardwick Green and Piccadilly. The chance to start building is a major move forward in our plan to create sustainable homes, jobs and a whole new leisure quarter at Mayfield.”
Mayfield Partnership has also agreed to acquire the Macdonald hotel car park off Travis Street. The site is earmarked for offices under the Mayfield masterplan.
Nice to see an area lain waste for decades to be transformed for the better.
By Rodders
Of course it’s a monumental improvement on the wasteland that was there before. But there’s something about the design that’s a bit … meh.
By Tom
Love me a good car park
By UNESCO rep
The designs on this are all a bit “ view from the Westway in 1990.” This will be the first thing visitors see when they come to Manchester and it needs to be striking and confident. This isn’t.
By Elephant
Fantastic more car parks. Just what is needed to help reach carbon zero and in an area so poorly served by public transport.
By Anonymous
Uninspiring design for a gateway scheme.
By 1981
It always funny to read the comments of outsiders who’ve never even been to the area like ‘poorly served by public transport’ when the tram station and Piccadilly railway station are literally next door! …please stop my sides are splitting!…..
By Sam
Lots of Buildings here yet to come. Getting ready for some more civil servants I guess. Fantastic that it’s actually started.
By Anonymous
“in area so poorly served by public transport”
It gets to the point when you wonder why you bothered reading the comments.
By Anonymous
Looks absolutely brilliant in my view.
By Simon
As someone who has only just visited the park recently… they’ve done a really good job. I thought it had been overhyped but it’s actually better than the photos.
It might lose the openness feel when the offices get built around it but then again it wouldn’t have happened in the first place without the rest of the development.
I’ve heard that other parks may link onto Mayfield to the east, hopefully this comes to fruition.
By Well done
I have always had a liking for those designs or cgi’s.I think it looks clean and crisp.I wonder if the void that is central retail park..Will become an office led area?.It makes sense especially with the advent of HS2.I think people are wanting a big tower around Picadilly somewhere,70+ story’s.
By Robert Fuller
Great news, keep up the momentum. This site has so much potential and such a central commuter location for office space too. Especially for govt departments that get frequented by London visits.
By 3D bloke
Carbon zero..blah blah…poorly served by public transport..blah….oh at least make an effort.
By Anonymous
What an uninspired design. Why employ a London based Architect to do what Manchester based Architects can do much better in their own city!
By Anonymous