There will still be many for whom Mayfield in Manchester means nothing.*
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| Abandoned |
For others old enough to remember the Railway Station it will be a place of trips out to Stockport, Buxton, Wilmslow and Crew, although from the 1920s onwards these were confined to the rush hours.
It closed for passenger traffic in 1960 having just reached its 50th birthday. It briefly had a life as a parcel depot but this finished in 1969 and two years later the mainline tracks were lifted.
After that, there were plans for “something” for Mayfield, but the years went by with it slowly deteriorating, visited only by the curious and those wanting to post pictures from a site few people knew much about.
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| Transformation |
The railway station took its name from the 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 Andy Robertson has been chronically over the last few months.
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| The river |
That something 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.
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| The cleared land |
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.
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| Mayfield developments |
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 come into being, leaving me just to say that this is the second of Andy’s pictures which will not be the last.
Location; Mayfield, Manchester
Pictures; Mayfield, 2021, from the collection of Andy Robertson
*Mayfield, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Mayfield
**Mayfield Manchester, https://www.uandiplc.com/our-places/mayfield
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