Mayfield Park Reflective Report

NATURE

HIDDEN

AUTHOR: EDDIE PUGH

MAYFIELD MAYFIELD

MAYFIELD

INTRODUCTION MAYFIELD PARK

Mayfield is a flagship project for the landscape architecture industry in Manchester. It is the first city centre public park ever in the city. Its significance has been highlighted as various media has engaged and reported on the progress of the project so far (see Manchester Evening News*). This appraisal is written before the park officially opens in September 2022. Despite this, I have been fortunate enough to receive a ‘behind the scenes’ tour with Studioegretwest on the site and a discussion with Layer Studio who have been charged with delivering the final details of the Park. When fully open, it will be viewed as a key representative of contemporary landscape architecture and urban park design. With this spotlight, comes responsibility and pressure to deliver a park that aims to transform a once damaged and disregarded landscape within Manchester.

It is fair to say then, that Mayfield is symbolic of a wider discourse surrounding regeneration of city centres. Several scholars address the role and importance of designing urban spaces to build support and engagement for sustainable urban development and to improve human-nature relationships (Gulsrud et al., 2018). Urban design’s role is to provide integrative solutions that strengthen urban environments from economic, social and environmental aspects and guide the intervention as a strategy (Steiner, 2014). Cities face increasing environmental, social and economic challenges that together threaten the resilience of urban areas and the residents who live and work there. The Mayfield regeneration, and by extension the Mayfield Park, will aim to address these wider systematic values.

Bridge in construction over River Medlock looking towards Mayfield depot

MANCHESTER ON THE MOVE

Manchester on the move. What is Manchester famous for? Football, industrial heritage, music and nightlife culture, Coronation Street, but parks? Not so much. Manchester is a city where the industrial revolution established. A significant but unassuming geography that was to be capitalised on and the resulting fabric of the built environment centring on production. This was an engineered city of mills, factories, chimneys, terraced housing, canals, and railways. This dominant infrastructure persists as Manchester’s most identifiable landscape character, but the city has more recently developed a pluralistic juxtaposition of alternative and quality architecture and landscape architecture. Plazas, squares and public realm have seen development in the city centre, but a high quality park? Something the city centre has been missing. Despite ambitious plans for the city of Manchester to be carbon neutral by 2038 (Manchester.gov.uk) the lack of ‘green’ space and infrastructure is troubling. Green spaces, and by extension, parks, have not been offered as serious strategies in generating healthy, low-carbon, climate resilient landscapes in Manchester city centre, until now.

Landscape architecture in Manchester, like many European countries, is undergoing a transition of ‘heavy heritage’. Where obsolete production plants, fossil resource extraction landscapes, waste dumps and other leftovers are most often regarded as the physical legacy of European heavy industry. It is the culmination of western philosophy, in where humankind authorize themselves as the master of nature, grabbing the natural resources they need and dumping back what is considered waste. Historically, Manchester’s approach its rivers exemplify this attitude, where natural features were controlled

and harnessed as a resource to power the mills, and any waste was dumped back into the same river that supplied them. This was not a mutually beneficial relationship, and it was often nature that came out the loser. But the recent recognition of nature as part of a symbiotic relationship with humans, has led us to seriously reconsider how we design and build our spaces. Landscape Architects now find themselves grappling between the vying needs of designing for culture and for nature. Their role in recovering the issues of human culture and uncovering the potential nature has and deserves within the built environment is challenging. This relationship is significant in the Mayfield development, where the landscape architects must engage with the pollutant and poison running through the layers of landscape, but the site also offers opportunity in natural resources. The uncovering of a previously hidden territory, the river Medlock, is key resource and making a statement about the intentions of contemporary landscape design.

The reversal of inner cities as an attractive housing option has been an important shift in recent decades. The conversion of industrial areas, the revitalisation of previously degraded neighbourhoods, and the investment in rapid transit infrastructure have altered the way we see, use, and ultimately design these spaces (Mell, 2022). The Mayfield regeneration seems to epitomise this wider European school of thought, where the regeneration of its industrial and damaged landscape is being used as catalyst to attract further investment. Historically, Manchester’s approach to its rivers exemplify this attitude, where natural features were controlled and harnessed as a resource to power the mills, and any waste was dumped back into the same river that supplied them.

NATURE

HIDDEN NATURE HIDDEN

Total

Landscape

Project

Location

Client:

SITE MAYFIELD SRF MANCHESTER

In 2016, the Mayfield Partnership (regeneration specialist U+I, Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester and LCR), was formed with a new brief to ensure the long dormant site reaches its potential. The Partnership’s masterplan for Mayfield was endorsed in 2018 (festivalofplace, 2022).

Located adjacent to Manchester’s Piccadilly train station, the Mayfield district has suffered from 30 years of decline. During the industrial revolution it was at the beating heart of the textiles industry, in 1910 it became the location of a new railway station, and in the 1970s Mayfield took on new life as a major postal depot. But since the depot’s closure in 1987, this historically productive district has been largely unfrequented, attracting crime and negative associations.

It is a public-private partnership between developer SLR, and clients U+I, Manchester City Council, and Transport for Greater Manchester. The UK Government has invested £23 million in Mayfield as part of its levelling up scheme, so it has attracted significant interest from contractors, media, and local stakeholders. The aim from the SRF was to establish Mayfield as a “distinctive new urban quarter”, and a as “gateway” to Manchester. The Mayfield Partnership proposes to capitalise on the site’s existing assets: the Mayfield Depot; the river Medlock; and its gateway location at the heart of an extensive transport network.

It is also worth noting the term ‘gateway’ in Mayfield’s context and its relationship with the city centre and transport links. The site is situated as a gateway to the city centre from nationally connected transport links. The project is intended

to act as statement for those who arrive in the city centre. The scheduled construction of the high-speed rail network (HS2) will undoubtably be part of this strategic placemaking of Mayfield in close proximity to Manchester’s busiest railway station, Piccadilly. Mayfield has a smaller SRF (spatial regeneration framework) sitting within the larger Piccadilly SRF, so Mayfield’s values need to align with Piccadilly’s aims.

“Meanwhile use’ Escape to Freight Island overlooking to Mayfield Park

LAYERS MAYFIELD MASTERPLAN

The Urban Grain

A new top layer of accommodation

The Platforms

Celebrate the Mayfield platform layer with a raised park and establish new platforms with the opportunity for bridge level connections Retention of Buildings

Retain and celebrate the existing character defining building on the site

Use Clusters

Define quarter united by a central layered landscape

Urban Network

Manitain and enhance the network of existing streets

DESIGN MAYFIELD MASTERPLAN

STRATEGIC AIM VISION

The vision for Mayfield is to deliver a world class, transformational, distinctive and imaginative commercially led neighbourhood, anchored by Mayfield Park, which will become a powerhouse of socio-economic productivity.

SITE MAYFIELD PARK

The Mayfield Park is a 6 acre park the heart of the Mayfield Spatial Regeneration Framework. In February 2020, the Partnership received unanimous planning consent for the first phase of development, including the park. While the investment in the 6.5-acre park will not generate a rapid commercial return, it is of such importance to the project that U+I took the decision to bring it forward in Phase One.

The park is carefully curating the multiple vested interests of the UK government, local council, developers, and local stakeholders. The landscape architects must design and masterplan a space that adheres to these human desires (culture) and to develop the biodiversity and ecology (nature) in the park. Despite this, Landscape architects have grappled with understanding these differences despites working across the realm of both (Prominski, 2015). There is sometimes a lack of cohesion of nature and culture through the competitive interests that city centres generate. Despite this, the design at Mayfield is embracing flux and unknowns. The planting design of the park is being shaped with the future in mind, featuring biodiverse ecological areas and floodable meadows to accommodate climate-change scenarios.

The new Mayfield neighbourhood (a mix of residential and commercial units) will be formed around the park offering access to greenspace, wellbeing and nature for workers, residents, and visitors. This process of landscape led design is not a typical practice in the UK and is a refreshing and welcomed move in landscape design. Landscape, like nature and culture, takes time to establish and mature. Planning for longer term development periods and flexible strategies

for future possibilities is key for the park to have a sustainable and resilient future. The park also features much needed blue space through the remediation of the river Medlock, which winds through the site but today is largely hidden by culverts. This is a common theme across many northern industrial towns, that literally ‘turned their back’ on the rivers that flowed through them, and it is pleasing to see strategies reversing this unhealthy condition and relationship with water.

With quiet spaces for contemplation and sheltered areas, the park aims to be accessible and enjoyed across all seasons. Utilising the proximity to Piccadilly station, Mayfield’s planned cycle hub aims to encourage sustainable commuting across the city, helping to meet Manchester’s ambitions for cycle transport (festivalofplace, 2022)

The park is a unique and important piece of infrastructure for Manchester. At face value, it a piece of landscape design proudly boasting as the first city centre park ever in Manchesterwhilst incidentally bringing into sharp focus the previous lack of attention given to open green spaces in urban centres, especially in industrial towns of the North of England.

De-culverted river Medlock with viewing platforms

WHO’S WHO

CLIENTS

The client for the Mayfield Park is Manchester City Council and U+I (part of landsec). U+I is a company that specialises in placemaking and regeneration. U+I spearheaded the project by using their creative and master developer knowledge to develop an overall strategy for the site. U+I brought together many other professions to complete this, working with landscape architects, engineers, contractors, and architects. They are responsible for producing the Mayfield SRF, working with collaborators such as Manchester City Council.

Studioegretwest is the overall master planner for the landscape at Mayfield and Mayfield Park. They were initially awarded the contract to design and masterplan the landscape across the Mayfield site. They designed the concept for the park before handing over the design to sub-contractors Civic Engineering, Gillespies, and Layer Studio. They have retained a consultant position for the client to help U+I deliver the masterplan concept with accuracy.

Burohappold Engineering are a firm working alongside side U+I to develop the original masterplan and have subsequently been retained as consultant for the client. They have also worked with Civic Engineers to deliver specific build elements of the Mayfield project under the direction of the main contractor P.P. 0’Connor.

P.P. 0’Connor are the main contractors delivering and coordinating the Mayfield project. They are working to direct many different subcontractors across all sectors of the built environment. In the landscape specific case, they are employing Civic Engineers.

Civic Engineers are the leading contractors constructing the built environment. They are acting as the client to the sub-contacted landscape architecture firms; Gillespies and Layer Studio.

Gillespies and Layer Studio are responsible for the technical design of the landscape and delivery. They are working under the sub-client Civic Engineers in terms of delivering the project. Both firms are still working with Studioegretwest delivering the project as cohesive design across all firms and interests.

Outline

WHO’S WHO STAGES

Outline structure of the RIBA work stages and the core inputs from each firm or organisation.

PLAYTIME PLAYTIME

PLAYTIME

DISCUSSION NEW VALUES

There is a sense of speculation that the creation of the park will bring a new value to the landscape. It’s an exciting and potentially pivotal piece of urban infrastructure, putting landscape architecture at the helm. The site is unusual in that it has been built landscape first, not the atypical model utilised in planning and construction of the development in UK. This approach was recognised as a leading reason in the Mayfield development receiving the Pineapple Future Place winner 2020 award:

“….the [fact the] park would be delivered first was considered a strong positive statement of intent” (festivalofplace, 2022)

This has happened because of the scheme gaining public funding from the local Manchester Council and a lump sum investment from the government as part of its levelling up scheme tackling the north south inequality. On top of this, the Covid-19 pandemic further delayed the construction of the scheduled buildings on site. This meant that Mayfield park secured its funding and could begin construction before the buildings. This reverses the normal model of landscape ‘fitting in’ between the buildings erected first. It also lessens the likelihood of the landscape project being subject to value engineering (EV). This has helped ensure that this project could maintain its quality. The Covid-19 pandemic also accelerated the public’s desire for parks and quality outdoors spaces and by extension the council reacting to such measures.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been disruptive in questioning the status quo of landscape designation and use in the UK. A staggering 80% of the UK public realm is the road network

(McConnell, 2022), and understandably there was knee-jerk reaction of appropriating public streets and roads as a sort of tactical urbanism. Streets became increasingly pedestrianised and temporarily closed to traffic. This initial reaction was seen as a win for many urban designers and landscape architects, but as the interests of businesses generated a slow creep of public space appropriation for private gain, its apparent success hasn’t been fully realised. Instead, spaces that were closed to traffic and open to the public, are now fighting the competitive interests of businesses sprawling into the streets. Hopefully long-term spaces can learn to adapt and provide quality space without allowing consumerism to dominate these spaces.

This then brings into focus another facet of the Mayfield Park, and its relationship with the public and private realms. Acting as a public park that is privately owned, it can be termed as a pseudopublic space. The council funding has partly contributed towards the development of the scheme, but the ownership and management lies with U+I. This park is more than just the aspiration of the developer to provide regeneration. It is a built manifestation of Manchester’s cosmopolitan values and net zero carbon goals. There is much vested interest in this park beyond the clients, bringing a responsibility in the way it’s designed, constructed, and operated. A scheme of such a high-quality design needs a high-quality management plan to allow the park to operate at its potential, something developers, landscape architects, and councils have sometimes failed to grasp (Jansson et al., 2018).

“Mayfield Park will be inclusive and welcoming and will be managed with those who use it for the highest level of public benefit.” (festivalofplace, 2022)

The private ownership could offer a key impetus for the clients to manage this space to a high quality, gaining a sort of ‘territoriality’ of the site.

The Mayfield SRF propsed that a management regime should be developed and considered at an early stage in the deisgn process. Further suggesting that there are three key factors to successful estate management:

1. Cleanliness – The appearance of cleanliness contributes significantly to the image/impression of a place. A frequently cleaned site, free of chewing gum, graffiti and wind-blown litter maintains quality and encourages use of the public realm.

2. Safety and Security – New development should be designed so as to provide a welcoming, safe and secure environment, using the principles of ‘Secure by Design.’

3. Repair and replacement - Periodic repair and replacement will be required to avoid any deterioration in quality and to help ensure public safety.

The council will support this model of public private realm as it allows them to not manage the site as their funds continue to be cut in this sector. However, the issue of privatisation is the way it is perceived and utilised in the public sphere. Freedom of speech, consumption, and specific activities have often been supressed by the private management of these public sites, who can steer towards a particular set of values and behaviours that are acceptable on their private but publicly open site. That being said, this model has the most potential to continue to maintain the park as the designers intended, and maybe the next step is a discussion around the legislation and appropriate nature of management within these sites, shifting the discussion of

criticising design for anti-social behaviour and understanding the core economic and social reasons behind it.

Meanwhile uses on the site have delivered successful interim outcomes, generating interest and engagement in the location (such as the Warehouse Project and Escape to Freight Island). They have opened an unexpected new narrative to the site and has subsequently developed a strong position as a nightlife destination. This could be an important strategy of changing the perception and raising awareness of the Mayfield landscape before it’s completion, generating an interested public beyond the typical stakeholders.

Bridge over ‘wild’ flood zone and orginal iron girder from culvert encorporated into design

CONCLUSION NOT THE LAST

This appraisal has highlighted that Mayfield Park is a flagship project for the landscape architecture industry in Manchester. It has been subject to intense marketing, showcasing its potential and importance as a space in Manchester city centre. As construction nears to an end, and with opening date set for September 2022, this will be the first time the public can experience this kind of space in Manchester’s city centre. The public’s reaction will become evident if (and in what way) they use the Park. It is likely that the project will be received successfully, in part due to its extensive and positive media coverage, but mainly due to its quality in both design, location, and materiality.

It will be interesting to see how the ecology and the recently de-culverted river Medlock develops, and if its users will foster a relationship with the river. It has the potential to open opportunities for more of the river corridor to be recovered and reimagined – potentially creating a sinuous river corridor of public realm.

What is particularly useful is the acknowledgment of landscape as a regenerator for the Mayfield area, shaping new values into how we view and utilise our landscape. In a period of intensive construction, many projects like Mayfield are being realised – some of them with innovative technical, ecological, or social approaches – but hardly any of them are monitored to check if the goals have been met (Grimm-Pretner, 2018). Perhaps to understand if these new values are successful, we should revisit the ongoing accomplishments and issues of this space to learn from this project, after all, it is the first city centre public park Manchester has ever created, but hopefully not the last.

Park boundary where the commercial and residential apartments will be built in phase 2

Bespoke play area

LIST

Boros, J. and Mahmoud, I., 2021. Urban Design and the Role of Placemaking in Mainstreaming NatureBased Solutions. Learning From the Biblioteca Degli Alberi Case Study in Milan. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 3.

Dagmar, G., 2018. Contemporary Issues in Landscape Architecture - The Challenge of Designing Green Infrastructure. Plants and Landscape in Urban Areas, pp.(pp.3-6).

Festivalofplace, 2020. Mayfield. [online] Available at: <https://www.festivalofplace.co.uk/projectshowcase/gallery-shortlisted-entries-for-the-pineapples-awards-2020/mayfield> [Accessed 19 July 2022].

Jansson, M., Vogel, N., Fors, H. and Randrup, T., 2018. The governance of landscape management: new approaches to urban open space development. Landscape Research, 44(8), pp.952-965.

McConnell, C., 2022. Streets: the best use of public space?. [online] Arup.com. Available at: <https:// www.arup.com/perspectives/streets-the-best-use-of-public-space> [Accessed 19 July 2022].

Mell, I., 2022. Examining the Role of Green Infrastructure as an Advocate for Regeneration. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 4.

Manchester Evening News - Stunning images of Manchester's huge new playground with 18m, seethrough slide https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/stunningimages-manchesters-huge-new-22825805

Manchester.gov.uk, 2022. Zero Carbon Manchester | Zero Carbon Manchester | Manchester City Council. [online] Manchester.gov.uk. Available at: <https://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/500002/council_policies_ and_strategies/3833/zero_carbon_manchester> [Accessed 19 July 2022].

Prominski, M. 2015. Acknowledging the Anthropocene Published In: Diedrich L. et al. (Eds.) On the move. Landscape Architecture Europe #4. Blauwdruck, Wageningen: 173-177.

Steiner, F., 2014. Frontiers in urban ecological design and planning research. Landscape and Urban Planning, 125, pp.304-311.

MAYFIELD