Fresh images of £3.2m Manchester park proposal
Backed by Homes England, the revamp of Ancoats Green forms part of Manchester City Council’s drive to improve its public spaces.
Updated visualisations of how the reworked Ancoats Green could look have been published today as work begins on site.
The £3.2m project marks the final chapter of the regeneration of Ancoats and aims to cater for existing residents and those who will occupy a further 1,500 pipeline homes.
Homes England has committed £28.1m to the overall project – including the Ancoats Mobility Hub – which, combined with the £4.7m allocated by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority through the Brownfield Housing Fund, brings the total budget for the final phase of Ancoats to £32.7m.
Ross Miller-Green, senior manager of infrastructure grants project management at Homes England, said: “Homes England has allocated over £28m towards the regeneration of the back of Ancoats, creating the UK’s first ever mobility hub and transforming Ancoats into the green heart of the community.
“The development of Ancoats Green will provide an exemplary community asset and set the tone for the high quality and sustainable Ancoats neighbourhood that will follow.”
The new-look Ancoats Green will include walking and cycling routes to encourage active travel through the neighbourhood, around 15,000 sq ft of planting, a 76% net increase in trees, and 40,000 sq ft of wildflowers.
In addition, granite paving stones removed from Albert Square as part of the ongoing Our Town Hall project, will be reused at Ancoats Green.
Planit and Civic Engineers are leading on the design of the project, which sits between the Mobility Hub and the first development from This City, the city council’s housing delivery vehicle, on Rodney Street.
“Ancoats Green is another major step towards creating a blend of urban vibrance and the tranquility of the natural world,” said Anna Marohn, principal landscape architect at Planit.
“This new development will form the beating green heart of this area, connecting existing and future communities. Engaging with the local community early in the design process was important to ensure that we’ll deliver a park that works for them and is fully inclusive and accessible. The final play area will benefit from accessible roundabouts, slides, and trampolines.”
The scheme forms part of the final part of Ancoats’ regeneration. Credit: Virtual Planit
Leader of the city council, Cllr Bev Craig, said she hopes the scheme would allow more families to enjoy the area.
“We know that more and more people are choosing to have families in the city centre,” she said.
“We have an opportunity through this investment to create a new green heart for Ancoats with open grassed spaces and new play park that will allow the community grow and knit around it.
“Ancoats Green will be the focal point that this neighbourhood needs, becoming the lynchpin of the ongoing development in the area – and the final chapter on the regeneration of Ancoats over the last two decades.”
Manchester is often criticised for a lack of good quality green space but has taken steps in recent years to address the issue, most notably by creating Mayfield Park with the help of a £23m government grant.
The wider investment in the green spaces and public realm in Ancoats also proposes an upgrade to Jersey Green, which will begin next year.
“[The Ancoats Green project] is part of a long-standing and long-term commitment that we have to make Manchester a greener, more attractive and cleaner place to live,” Craig said.
“We are committed to creating more high-quality green spaces for residents and visitors and this project is echoed by green investment across our city – including throughout or Victoria North programme, as well as the former Central Retail Park and our new Mayfield Park.”
Virtual Planit has created the visualisations for the new-look Ancoats Green.
Richard Line, director of Virtual Planit added: “It’s hard for people to get a feel for the Ancoats Green enhancements ahead of it being built.
“Our CGIs have really helped the Ancoats community and council to visualise the changes – bringing to life how beautiful the landscaped park will be and creating a sense of excitement around the new equipment their children can play on.”
Fantastic park but that car park – sorry “mobility hub” is a total embarassment. Imagine thinking it’s ok to put a huge blank wall facing a new park. MCC planning department is a total disaster
By Anonymous
How ironic a carpark “mobility hub” next to a green space which is supposed to encourage active walking and cycling.
By Anonymous
61.1% of residents have no access to a car in this area yet MCC thinks a ‘mobility hub’ is a good idea…
By Annon
funny that MCC are badging it as ‘creating green space’ when the green space has existed, and been completely ignored in terms of maintenance/management, for many years. but now is better than never.
By kl
Great bit of design especially reusing the Albert square paving slabs. Excellent that they’ve provided actual parking so that people can travels to work even if it annoys ‘but you’re destroying the world’ types. I mean I did wonder if the world revolves around me and it turns out it does,… and I’ll enjoy the park here as well!
By Oppenheimer
MCC could at least make the entire car park blank wall a living wall.
By Anonymous
Manchester needs more parks They will serve to be the vital organs of the Manchester community as a whole and will act as a force multiplier on many levels including revenue.
That old (Toys r us) space screams “Park”.
A missed opportunity that will be looked back on with regret.
By Troy Robson
A fountain would be nice and peaceful
By Anonymous
An excellent opportunity for residents of Manchester to park their cars in the mobility hub (car park), so they can access the green space before driving back to their flats. Manchester needs more of this concept of the 15-minute vehicle city.
By Anonymous
There are very few parks in the centre of Manchester and it makes it a depressing place at times. Far more investment is needed into the creation and maintenance of high quality green spaces if Manchester is to ever succeed in the long run
By Anonymous
Spending all that money in Ancoats, They want to come and look at Clayton Park It’s Discracefull,
By Anonymous
Manchester is so pretty we could be Venice or Madrid
By Anonymous
Lost track of the number of times this has been tried over the last 25-30 years. Feels like lots. Maybe its not. Point is, they never work. Obsessive interest in hard landscaping, refusal to accept traffic, refusal to believe that kiddy things aren’t actually a load of quickly ruined junk, patronising attitude to people and “nature”. Just trees, grass, a bench or two and some nice railings will do fine.
By Anonymous
I’m all for more public green space my only concern is MCCs lamentable ability to keep areas free from litter and well maintained.
By Anonymous
Hardly any mancunians live in walking distance of a nice safe park, which is why so many drive to Heaton Park, the only nice park we have
By Peter
Manchester is unique, home of sooooo much, especially development! Love it!
By Ewish
Manchester is more than pretty babe
By Stay jel
Manchester is stunning we are even outdoing New York & London
By Anonymous
Manchester isn’t even in the same realm as London or New York don’t be silly
By Anonymous
We seem to have non stop development. Having this extra green space is very welcome.
By Tom
Outdoing London and New York in terms of what exactly??? I’m a londoner who has lived in Manchester for 15 years and adore the city but in terms of green spaces (which the article is about) manchester is so far behind London a d this needs to be addressed as the city continues to evolve
By Anonymous
Manchester has issues with green space in the city centre which is the debate. The wider region is blessed with lots of green space including part of the Peaks. Try harder trolls!
By Anonymous
Manchester has recently been listed in NY times now you mention it
By He he
It’s literally a park already – I walk my dog on there every day. They’re spending £3.2M to make it smaller by putting paths and slides all over it when all it needs is a bit of tidy up and the smackheads moving on. I don’t understand why they are selling it as a “new park” – proper Tory tactics.
By Anonymous
Love getting a bit more green in the city centre. The whole development around Ancoats and Islington Marina is really paying benefits now for the now especially if you remember it back in the 80,s. I love the integration with the old mills and canals.
By Trid
Manchester is behind Liverpool regarding green spaces
By Anonymous
Really what about the homeless?
By Anonymous
Unfortunately not. A study was undertaken of the UK’s largest cities with the most green space. Manchester came 8th and Liverpool came 10th, please do your research before trolling.
It should be noted that both cities have massive room for improvement regarding green space.
By Anonymous
But that’s the point of trolls, they don’t research. You know when a development is worthwhile it always brings them out from under their bridge. It’s quite amusing if predictable.
By The Witcher
@Anon 4:20 I’m guessing your study says nothing about the spatial distribution of green space nor its quality. If the majority of green space in Manchester is poor quality scrub land on the periphery of the city , for example, then it provides little to no amenity value for Manchester’s residents, particularly those that suffers one of the most suffocatingly dense and congested city centres / inner cities of all major cities.
Liverpool is remarkably open and pleasant to walk around even where there is no green space – the quality and quality of its hard landscaping and public spaces is vastly superior to Manchester which can be a stressful and unpleasant place to walk around at the best of times. Manchester’s leaders need to wake up to this problem urgently.
By Anonymous
It is the people who ruin Manchester’s open spaces.There I have said it. That’s what we all think. I was in Heaton Park in the Summer and it was embarrassing. If Manchester is to enter the city big league, we need some people who respect their environment.
By Elephant
End of the day, it’s a city centre…there needs to be parking and green space. This ticks both boxes. My issue is, there’s already a park there now, but the reason it’s not an asset to the community is because it’s been neglected by MCC and is abused by crack heads. Rubbish is everywhere, stolen goods, paraphernalia, fireworks etc also no lighting for when it’s dark. It seems like a good project for the area, It just needs ongoing management to maintain it and prevent it becoming a dump.
By Anonymous
I think you’re all in agreement more than you may think. Manc city centre has poor green space but the wider city region can be pretty fantastic.
It’s interesting as the MEN published an article recently about the forthcoming green spaces which will hopefully encircle the city centre. Lets hope it’s true.
By Anonymous
Tory tactics? This is done by a labour council, dumbo.
By Anonymous