Masterplan for £850m Mayfield Park is out for public consultation

The long-awaited draft strategic regeneration framework (SFR) for the creation of the £850m Mayfield area of Manchester, where ultimately HS2 will bring visitors to the city from across the globe, is out for public consultation.

The masterplan for the area near Piccadilly Station has been presented by The Mayfield Partnership – a joint venture between LCR, Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester and regeneration specialist U+I.

It proposes to capitalise on the site’s existing assets – the Mayfield Depot, the River Medlock and its gateway location to an extensive transport network “to become a destination for work, play and living for all”.

The SRF includes two landmark buildings at the two key gateways to the site, above the old ticket hall and to the east of the park, to mark the arrival to the Mayfield area. They will clearly mark the arrival to Piccadilly Station for passengers on the mainline railway.

It comprises five distinct clusters of activity including the Mayfield Depot which will act as “the front door” to the majority of visitors to the site.

The building is described as the ideal location for a retail, leisure, culture and business destination that takes advantage of the depot’s expansive interior and its location right on the doorstep of the park.

There is a potential to subdivide the depot into smaller units at ground and mezzanine level, or to retain the large open spaces for flexible use, such as exhibitions, food markets or events.

Baring Street Campus will be four low to medium rise buildings provide large, generic and flexible commercial floorspace along with some residential accommodation.

Hoyle Street East will consist of a residential-led mixed use area that also provides complimentary non-residential uses at park and street level. Hoyle Street East will continue the sweep of active uses located along Fairfield Street and Temperance Street that together serve to activate the streets and provide points of interest around the park.

Above the podium is a high-rise cluster of apartment buildings, providing a significant proportion of the proposed residential development on the site.

Hoyle Street West will be south of the park in a quieter part of the site lies with low to medium rise family orientated neighbourhood with apartments and single family houses or stacked duplexes. Commercial space will be distributed across the smaller units along the Mancunian Way frontage.

Wyre Street will include a collection of new buildings which will help heal and consolidate the currently fractured urban grain west of Baring Street.

The existing Baring Street brick building opposite the Gatehouse will be replaced with a new hotel of a similar footprint but increased height to that of the existing building.

A generous and generic building floorplate is located on the current MacDonald surface car park, providing extrovert retail and leisure uses at ground, and office uses at upper levels.

A small and welcoming pavilion will sit at the Wyre Street entrance on Fairfield Street, providing leisure and/or retail uses within an enhanced landscape setting. The Wyre Street area will be directly accessible from the Piccadilly Station via the new southern entrance.

However, at the heart of the development there will be the generous 6.5 acre public realm Mayfield Park including the Platform Park.

James Heather, development director at U+I, said: “We are very pleased to have reached the stage where we can put our proposed vision of a new Mayfield before the people of the city.

“In the 12 months or so since we were appointed as development partners, we’ve found a huge interest in the site from the public and this is their opportunity to respond and to tell us what they think of our plans.

“This is a key moment in the next chapter for Mayfield and we are sure the people of the city will be interested to see how far we’ve come.”

The draft Framework was approved for consultation by Manchester City Council’s Executive yesterday (Wednesday, February 7). A period of formal public consultation has now begun.

Following the consultation, an updated document, incorporating comments from the public, will be presented to the executive later in the year for consideration for final adoption.

Consultation is taking place at: Medlock Primary School, Wadeson Road, Ardwick on Thursday, March 1 from 2pm to 6pm; Piccadilly Gardens, Victoria Statue on Saturday, March 3 from 9am to 5pm; Temperance Street, Mayfield, Archway Seven, Thursday, March 8 from 12noon to 6pm, Friday, March 9 from 12noon to 8pm, Saturday, March 10, from 12noon to 8pm and Sunday, March 11, from 12noon to 5pm.