Green space key as Mayfield eases through consultation
Manchester City Council’s executive will next week be asked to approve the updated Strategic Regeneration Framework for Mayfield, following consultation sessions at which 80% of respondents were “wholly positive”.
The exercise lasted six weeks, with letters sent to 1,976 residents and businesses, while a series of public exhibitions were held at Mayfield and other central locations in March. This followed the publication of a draft SRF for the 30-acre site in February.
The broad vision put forward by developer U+I for the £1bn project entails the bulk of grade A commercial buildings at the northern boundary, close to Piccadilly station, where existing heritage buildings such as the Mayfield Depot, railway arches and Star & Garter pub will be retained.
There will be residential and mixed space towards the Mancunian Way, an arc of tall residential buildings at the eastern boundary, with low or medium-rise family housing around Hoyle Street West, and live-work buildings closer to the London Road junction.
In total, the scheme has the potential for 347,000 sq ft of retail and leisure, 1,500 homes and 650 hotel beds, along with 1.65m sq ft of office space. The scheme is rumoured to be shortlisted for a 600,000 sq ft hub for Barclays, it was reported in February.
Only nine responses were received directly by the council, with the most attention being given to the 6.5-acre park at the centre of the scheme. The report to the executive notes that “respondents were generally supportive of the inclusion of the park and green space in the city centre, highlighting the need for more green space in Manchester, and the importance to individual and community wellbeing and ecology”.
The sessions held by U+I garnered more than 700 attendees, from which it was reported that “there was a high level of support for the amount and accessibility of the green space and the main features proposed”.
In terms of building design, the report summarised: “Comments were divided between those who felt that building design should be aspirational, bold and distinctive, particularly for the larger, residential buildings, and those concerned that the designs should fit better with the heritage and context of the area and the city, or were concerned about the potential for tall buildings and their impact.”
In response to the consultation, the report to the executive said: “The day-to-day management and maintenance of the park will be carried out by a management company acting on behalf of the owners. It is anticipated that the maintenance costs will be met from an estate service charge, which will be funded by contributions from all property owners on the estate. The park will remain fully accessible to the public.”
The Mayfield SRF is part of a wider framework, the Manchester Piccadilly HS2 SRF, which has also been updated this year. U+I is the development partner for Mayfield, working with LCR, Manchester City Council and Transport for Greater Manchester.
Mayfield’s professional team includes Deloitte Real Estate, architect Studio Egret West, Faithful & Gould, Buro Happold Engineering, JLL, Ekosgen, Foreman Roberts and Real Worth.
I think every consultant in Greater Manchester has worked on the old Mayfield Station at some point over the years. Will be good to see the area finally regenerated.
By DS
I hope that this works because God knows Manchester needs a decent open space. We all know this current lack of parks centrally is letting the city down hugely.
By Elephant
MCC have always used the utterly risible excuse that because Heston Park isn’t far away, people don’t need to access to green infrastructure in their daily living / working routines.
By Liveability