It is not everyday that you can claim to be in at the beginning of a new urban project which will transform a tired, neglected and almost forgotten bit of the city.
But this is one of Andy Robertson’s new projects.
He is a regular contributor to the blog and many of his 663 stories are about how the twin cities and the boroughs beyond have undergone massive change over the last decade.
And always Andy is there at the beginning, photographing decaying and empty buildings, and then returning again and again as the factories, warehouses and pubs are demolished, the land cleared, and the builders get to work on something new.
This week he has been in Mayfield, that area south of Piccadilly Railway Station, and east of London Road. It appears on the old maps as Mayfield and was developed in the early 19th century, and came to be dominated by Mayfield Station.
By the end of the last century, the railway station had closed, the densely packed terraced properties along with the mills, dyeworks and foundries had gone and the place was waiting for something to happen.
And that something is now happening, which will be “A transformational mixed-use city centre regeneration project reviving a former industrial heartland into a modern innovation quarter.
Mayfield is a 24-acre brownfield site packed with heritage and the River Medlock flowing through its core. The site has an industrial history of innovation spanning back to the 1700’s with previous lives as a parcel depot, relief railway station and textile mill. The site was left derelict for over 30 years before the next phase of its revival began.
The Mayfield Partnership – comprised of U+I, Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester and LCR – formed in 2016 with a shared vision to deliver a modern neighbourhood at the heart of Manchester. Overall, the brownfield site will provide over 2.3m sq ft GIA office space facilitating 13,000 new jobs, 1,500 homes, 56,000 sq ft of retail and leisure, a new 300-bed hotel and 13-acres of public realm, including Mayfield Park – the city’s first new park in over 100 years.
Consent for phase one of the scheme was granted in February 2020, which will see the creation of the 6.5-acre park, office buildings, a car park and significant public realm. Construction will begin in Q4 2020, with the first buildings estimated to complete in 2022.
Since day one of the Mayfield Partnership, the site’s heritage assets have been opened up to the city through a curated programme of placemaking-led events and projects. In 2017 GRUB moved in, attracting foodies to the railway arches on Temperance Street. In 2018, Mayfield & Co established a small community of creative independent businesses. In 2019, Broadwick Live took a five-year tenancy, with a brief to deliver a series of worthwhile events.
The first major live music events began with an ambitious programme involving The Warehouse Project and some of the biggest names in electronic dance music, all taking centre stage in the historic Depot. From 2019 through to the beginning of 2020, over 300,000 music lovers visited the site, raising the profile of the area within the city and creating an initial socio-economic uplift of £10m in its first year.
The remaining phases of Mayfield will be developed over the next decade, and are expected to generate in the region of £7bn of socio-economic gain – creating a thriving and exciting neighbourhood for all Mancunians to enjoy”.*
I could go on but by following the link you can see just what bold plans are about to to come into being, leaving me just that Andy’s first pictures will not be the last.
Location; Mayfield
Pictures; In at the beginning …. Mayfield, 2021 from the collection of Andy Robertson
*Mayfield Manchester, https://www.uandiplc.com/our-places/mayfield
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