Today was a momentous one for Manchester. This morning, the city centre welcomed its first new park for more than a hundred years. It's been a long time coming, but Mayfield Park — next to Piccadilly Station — has flung open its gates.
In doing so, the park represents the realisation of long-held ambitions of both Manchester City Council and developers U+I. It represents the first swathe of greenery to come to the area — once the site of the birth of the industrial revolution in Manchester.
The area is set to undergo a transformation over the next decade.
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The new park also hints at how Manchester might add more green space to town as the wish for more greenery versus the demands of developers becomes one of the defining political battles the city will go through in the next decade.
Before all that, however, there’s something more fundamental about Mayfield Park: It’s sense of fun.
The first thing to note about Mayfield Park, in the shadow of the city’s former Royal Mail depot, and now home to superclub Warehouse Project, is its size. This is by no means a sprawling sea of grass, like Heaton Park is, but it is also very well formed.
There’s ‘festival-grade’ turf which will be used as a space for events where a stage can be set up. Under the quickly-becoming-iconic ‘Depot Mayfield’ sign, which motorists see from the neighbouring Mancunian Way, there’s rows of seating cut into the grass.
Surrounding this is the River Medlock, which has been newly-released from its culvert, and is now home to several trout, according to on-site ecologists. It’s lined with 120,000 plants — 140 of them are trees.
At the culmination of the path is the hugely impressive play area. It features seven slides — one which takes thrill-seekers over the river — sunken trampolines, a climbing wall, balance beams, and a roundabout.
The play area is also accessible to wheelchair users as well, and sits next to public toilets that also have accessible facilities.
In all, the park is the 6.5 acre centre-piece of what will become a 25 acre neighbourhood. It’s something which Martyn Evans, creative director of U+I, says is a work in progress — but the park represents an important milestone in reviving the area.
“Places like Mayfield in cities like Manchester are all too common,” he told the M.E.N. “Great big pieces of land have a big fence around it for a long time. It was a great big barrier for the people who live in Ardwick and the centre of the city.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to change this part of the city. To do that, we need to be careful that it’s not a property development — it’s a place. First off it needs to be designed like a place, and have leisure space, green space, homes, offices, shops, cafes, restaurants, public loos and a play area like other parts of the city do. The most important thing here, at Mayfield, is to start building a park.
“It’s going to be at least two years before there’s a building here, by the time we start building in the new year. For the next more than two years, all this will be — is a park — and it will be able to establish itself as a public place, and that’s really, really important that this place feels like it’s owned by the people who live over there in Ardwick and the people who come from the centre of the city.”
Bev Craig, leader of Manchester city council, officially cut the ribbon just after noon. She hopes it will become an ‘anchor’ for the new neighbourhood, and ‘regeneration in this area’.
She added: “The values in what we have created and why we have created it sends a marker for other developments. The first is about place, you start with the bit that brings it up… you build in what makes a neighbourhood. That’s why we started with the park, not the housing.”
It is difficult to escape the feeling that the park will be at the heart of the new Mayfield area, and be a benefit to the eastern side of the city centre. Already, within half an hour of opening, scores of people were flocking in — some walking dogs, others taking a lunch break, and many were just interested observers.
Angharad Roberts was one of those dog-walkers. She was with Sunny, and explained why she was one of the first through the door.
“We recently bought a flat in Piccadilly East,” the 26-year-old said. “We have a dog, and they’ve started to build on New Islington Green.
“It is nice to have the green space [here]. People made the most of that green. I will be using this all the time.”
However, Angharad thought that while Mayfield was a welcome addition to the city, it was not the silver bullet to the green deprivation problem which has become more talked about since the pandemic. She continued: “I think we need more. There’s so many people moving in.
“It’s a great start. This is one part of the city, though — what about Castlefield and Green Quarter?”
Rose Sumner, eating her packed lunch nearby, shared a similar view that Mayfield alone won’t meet residents’ demands. The 33-year-old said: “This is a lovely spot for lunch. It’s a really good place to start, but it cannot do everything.”
The appetite for more green space in the city centre is not just evident from Angharad and Rose. There have been calls for another new park in New Islington after building work began on the grass area around the Metrolink stop, which was a favourite among residents.
It’s something which is recognised by Bev Craig herself, too. She told the Manchester Evening News : “Symbolically, it shows that we have 143 parks and green spaces in Manchester, and our tree coverage is [above average] but people don’t feel that in the city centre. That’s because of the nature of development in a post-industrial city.”
With both demand from residents and recognition from the Council that more greenery is wanted, it seems like a no-brainer to build another park. However, things are not that straightforward.
Coun Craig continued. “Often the aspiration you have for a place is met with a difficult, difficult challenge as a politician [in that] the government has taken away your budget.” That being said, Mayfield may just show the way around the funding constraints.
The park is administered by the Mayfield Partnership, which is a joint public-private venture — featuring both the Council and developers U+I. It’s something Martyn from U+I called ‘the future.’
He explained why: “The public purse is not full — but the public sector is the largest land-owning body in the country. There is a huge amount of land owned by the public that is not able to be developed because of such challenges on the public purse.
“I think it’s only going to get worse, over time. I think the only way [more development like this] is going to happen is through a partnership of public sector landowners and private sector investment.
“That can deliver beautiful green space, it can deliver homes, it can deliver jobs, amenities, bars, and shops.”
The partnership idea is also one which Bev Craig is open to — if the right firm walks along. She added: “I think where we think carefully is we look to do the right partnerships, so we don’t jump into bed with anybody. We want to make sure that there’s a long term commitment, based on our values.
“If developers want to come to Manchester, and do business in Manchester, we will rightly ask you to talk about the environment, sustainability, and jobs for Mancunians — and that fits into our overarching aims. I think this is a unique partnership, where capital has been a challenge.
“I think there are other examples where we’ve been a bit more able to do what we want, but recognise that without a change of government, much of our ambition is hampered and requires pragmatism.”
Mayfield Park will, unquestionably, be well-loved by residents. It’s full of amenities, is next to one the world’s best nightclubs, and a sprawling bar and restaurant which draws hundreds in every weekend.
It’s also, perhaps, come at the apex of the post-pandemic clamour for green space — and it would be no surprise if it fuels more of an appetite for it, given the quality on show at Mayfield.
One of the challenges laid by Martyn was for the Manchester Evening News to come back in the future and see how well it beds in. There are plans to have a ‘Friends Of’ group in the new year, and it’s going to be ‘beautifully managed’, according to Mr Evans.
And therein lies the point with Mayfield — it’s a wonderful space, one which the city should (and will) be proud of — but it’s also a symbol of hope, optimism, and achievement. Today was a momentous occasion for Manchester, but the next few years will be era-defining for Mayfield.
Read more of today's top stories here.
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