Manchester closes in on deal for Central Retail Park office campus 

Is a central government dept buying the 5.5 acres to develop? or will they then tender this to a another company? just thinking how much longer this will take before spades on ground.

The potential to expand Cotton Field park and bring the marina into a new public green space (given the size of the site) is an absolute no-brainer, I hope they deliver as they promise. This is needed (especially once the green patches of land vanish over by the tram stop).

Excellent news, let’s hope the final design matches the rhetoric.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this could have been an amazing skyscraper cluster! Imagine (at least) 8 150m+ skyscrapers here, would have been an incredible skyline addition.

How many civil servants does Manchester need before we get some national decisions going our way?

Should be 100% a park for the people…

This could and should be such a great location with the marina nearby especially if they introduce more green space. Where are all of these civil servants coming from? Presumably this is a relocation to Manchester?

1.25 m sq ft of offices? But the office is dea…….ok I can’t do it any more. The office is clearly doing very well in Manchester. Where are all of these civil servants coming from though? I know a new hub has opened at New Bailey and others were going to First St. Still, if it’s new jobs I’m all for it.

I agree with MC. This could be an amazing cluster of tall buildings, blending into the old industrial heritage, of Ancoats Piccadilly East,and the Northern Quarter. This development is boring and yet another wasted opportunity. Manchester needs to think bigger than this, if it is to continue to grow. We are still lacking an iconic building, and we appear to be a cheap alternative to London for penpushers, which if we are not careful, will turn us into a trendier Milton Keynes.

Need some private enterprise in here somewhere to generate the wealth to pay for all the civil servants and their gold plated pensions

Double green space and double the building height, as per the other comments

More town and city centre offices vacated

7000 new jobs coming to the city is never a wasted opportunity – the description of it being the “Manchester Digital Campus” for the civil service should give a clue to the type and quality of job being proposed here along with the capacity of the Digital Campus to attract and stimulate new jobs – hence the balance of the site being used for offices (along with the much needed public realm). The need for new, high quality green space should be delivered in land in the Medlock Valley adjacent to Palmerston Street (which is almost exclusively owned by the Council). Such space can be delivered at scale in this location – worth a visit if you have never been.

It seems Bev Craig likely knows rather more than she can let on right now with the plans for this place if the Government Procurement Agency is involved . This is definitely one to keep an eye re a bit more ‘North shoring’.

Is this part of the Governments agenda to relocate Civil Service staff out of London? If so, why is so much of it being concentrated in Manchester as opposed to spread out across other northern cities?

The amount of new green space is actually laughable. It doesn’t even look like it’s usable green space. It’s a gap between two buildings with plants.

That’s what green space in the city centre is . We just need more of them. What do you expect the sweeping plains of the Serengeti in Ancoats ? Perhaps you would like a bit of common.

Get Real…you need to read the article before commenting. it’s a gateway to Cottonfield Park too so additional green space.

The planning applications have not been submitted yet, care to lend us your crystal ball?

New green space on this side of the city centre = land at Palmerston Street on either side of the River Medlock. It is undevelopable for residential or commercial uses. Campaign for this and Get Real!

As if you’re trying to justify the lack of green space here for a ‘potential’ green space at locations over 10 minutes walk away. Absolutely clueless about city living and what makes a desirable place to live.

As for the gateway to Cotton Park – it’s already too busy and this will add to it.
If they were to double the height of the building and properly extend the park then fine but based on the plans already available they’re segregating it. So no , I’m not asking for sweeping plains, just a decent extension of the park. Is this a reasonable request?

Can someone confirm why they would want to lose such a good opportunity for a decent green space when they can building towers in almost any other location? So odd.
We get it, Manchester is brilliant. It will attract investment no matter what, hence why green space is a much bigger issue.

A gap between two buildings ?What nonsense, it’s just one CGI at the moment, read more before throwing a strop at plans that are as yet unfinished.

There’s actually been a few CGIs on this and there wasn’t a massive amount of green space. Please check your facts everyone.

Yes believe it or most residents of Manchester have to walk to “green space”, some even more than 10 minutes, and a lot of residents do not expect it to be on their doorstep. The Medlock Valley referenced in these comments is the only solution to put new green space in of scale that would be accessible to Ancoats, New Islington, Eastside etc..It is an opportunity to build another Mayfield (providing the cash can be found). Otherwise the proposals to create great public realm that connects CottonField Park to Great Ancoats Street is a really positive and welcome addition to the cityscape.

The green space issue is not being resolved. Green space in a big city needs to be accessible and attractive but above all safe. Manchester has none of these things, in the centre. The current green spaces are grim Angel Meadows is too small, Sackville Gardens is too small, Piccadilly Gardens, grim. Mayfield has potential but again too small, plus the available offering in general attract the lowest common denominator. St Catherine’s Woods is the one ray of hope. The issue though, is that will need to be policed, and secure. If I am blunt Manchester, despite the hype, still dies not have the demographic to support a grand open space.

If green space at scale is a requirement why not get a tram from Victoria, go 5 stops to Heaton Park, one of the largest municipal parks in Europe or take a tram from New Islington to Velopark and go 3 stops to Phillips Park. Large parks of scale have never been, and are never going to be, a feature of the city centre.

The idea that you have to spend money or walk 10 mins to have a decent walk, open space etc. is reflective on how small minded some people can be when reviewing what is one of the most rapid redevelopments of a city that western Europe has seen in recent times.
It’s just poor place making and its this sort of approach that will mean Manchester won’t be as successful as it could be.
Anyway I will reserve full judgement until we get a proper application but the idea that it will be a loss because there’s less building is criminal, particularly in a city which already desperately needs more green space.
Most of the apartments don’t have balconies either but I’ll leave that to another commenter…

@Anon 11:29. Indeed Anon! Or people could hop on a train and access even more green space in the Lake District! Or the wilderness of Iceland and Scandinavia are both a short plane journey.

Or rather than trying to tick a ‘green space’ box by sending people off to Heaton Park every time this issue is raised by residents, maybe the council could acknowledge that these complaints are valid and serious. People are crying out for more quality open space in Manchester’s stressful and overcrowded city centre. Every opportunity should be used to maximise it and improve public realm. Manchester compares poorly to almost every other major city on this score and for the city’s prosperity if not people’s health, it should be taken seriously

‘Large parks of scale have never been, and are never going to be, a feature of the city centre’
Imagine that mindset when they starting designing Victoria North.

Victoria North does include a very significant amount of new green space either side of the river.

Hands up who thinks the Irk Valley in Victoria North is in the city centre – maybe in ten years it might be but not today!

Victoria North is around the same distance from the main city centre as this site. Not sure what your point is. The city centre and adjoining areas still need more green space in all directions.

There are some good aspirations but not pushing for it will mean we get even less.

MC, you couldn’t be more right. Skyscraper cluster would have looked amazing.

Come on people………Manchester city centre is tiny and there is more pressure on that tiny area that anywhere else in the country. So of course areas like Victoria north are in the city centre if you look at Manchester on any comparative city scale……it is just beyond Angel Meadows. Yep we do need more open space but we also need to be realistic of how big that will be because it ain’t cheap. Has anyone got any good ideas about how it would be paid for??

The whole site should be turned into a park to service the growing population of Ancoats and families from further out too. None of this silly over the top design like at Mayfield either, just a good quality park with some run/walking route and plenty of trees to promote biodiversity.

@March 01, 2024 at 1:11 pm
By Anonymous

I’ve visited Mayfield last summer – and I totally disagree that it is silly and over the top.

The planting biodiversity and design is both excellent and deeply appropriate.

What is really needed is for Deansgate to be transformed into a tree-lined boulevard for all users, along with a series of new pocket parks.

Oh yes no buildings just green spaces in the city centre. Those civil servants bringing more investment can sit and sing kumbaya. Just what the city needs, it’s the future I’ve seen it.

Victorian entrepreneurs (often Christian philanthropists not capitalists in Marxian terminology) actually donated many public parks. Today elected councils reject the idea.

This is only city centre opportunity to actually give Manchester a decent sized city park which is desperately lacks. Couple with the world class vista of Royal Mills it could be an asset that would improve the city and the cities overall desirability. The council should suck it up and build a world class park. There’s plenty of other sites for the civil service to take.

Civil service staff do not like going to the office, look what’s happening at ONS, this won’t work if the unions get involved