The shortlist for an international design competition to draw up a £25m revamp of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester has been published.
A total of six companies have been picked who will each have until the autumn to bring forward their proposals with the successful design team set to be selected in 2023.
The winning firm will then further develop the plans with Manchester City Council ahead of the appointment of a contractor to carry out the work.
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The 10-acre site which the council invited urban design and landscape teams to submit plans for includes Mosley Street, Parker Street and parts of Portland Street and Piccadilly which run alongside the Gardens.
The design brief envisages the major city thoroughfare becoming a 'special place with a strong sense of identity, welcoming and uniquely Mancunian'.
It seeks to make the Gardens a 'place for all', where children can play, events are hosted and the tens of thousands walking through it every day feel safe.
The brief also recognises the importance of having a green space in the city centre and calls for planting to encourage biodiversity and improve air quality, the Local Democracy Reporting service said.
The six teams which have now been chosen to move to the next stage are:
- Fira Landscape Ltd
- LDA Design
- Ove Arup and Partners
- PLANit-IE Ltd
- Studio Egret West Ltd
- West 8
Council leader Cllr Bev Craig said: "The area centred around Piccadilly Gardens has the potential to be an outstanding public space where people actively want to spend time, not just hurry through. It can be a more welcoming gateway to the city, as well as a flexible and family-friendly events space.
"We know it isn't fulfilling that role at the moment and are looking to bring forward design proposals which will herald significant improvements.
"The shortlisting of these six design teams brings us another step closer to realising that ambition."
