First phase of Mayfield regeneration gets green light

Manchester City Council has approved the first phase the £1.4bn regeneration of Mayfield in Manchester city centre.

The regeneration project is regarded as one of the most important schemes in the city for a generation and the first phase of development will include a 6.5 acre managed public park centred around the River Medlock, which runs through the site.

This will become a significant managed open space for the public in the city centre and Manchester’s first new park in a century.

Also included in this first phase planning application is two commercial buildings and a 581-space multi-storey car park on Baring Street.

The Mayfield Partnership includes Manchester City Council, London & Continental Railways, Transport for Greater Manchester and developers U+I.

Last year New Start visited the site to meet U+I development director James Heather, who hopes Mayfield will be a ‘total pivot’ of the city centre, away from other fertile grounds for regeneration such as Spinningfields and the Northern Quarter.

In unanimously supporting the applications, councillors praised the breadth of the public consultation and outreach to the local community during the process.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: ‘The Mayfield scheme will deliver real improvements and opportunities for Manchester’s people. Not only will it create a significant new city-centre green space for people to enjoy – something which was integral to the masterplanning of this development – but it will also deliver thousands of new jobs, transforming an unloved and largely underused part of the city centre into a world-class gateway.’

Located next to Manchester Piccadilly Station, the majority of the Mayfield site has lain derelict for 30 years.

Over the next 10-15 years, The Mayfield Partnership’s £1.4bn vision for Mayfield has the potential to provide 1,500 homes, 1.6m sq ft of office space, a 650-bedroom hotel, and retail and leisure space. It is envisaged Mayfield will create more than 10,000 office, retail, leisure and construction jobs.

Work is set to begin on the park later this year.