£400m city office scheme
WORK on the first phase of development at Mayfield is set to start next year as a deal to fund a £400m office scheme in central Manchester has been struck.
The Mayfield Partnership, a joint venture between developers U+I and LCR with Manchester council and Transport for Greater Manchester, has agreed to fund the first phase of development at the 24-acre site together with Landsec.
The first phase of the plans along the south side of the city centre site include two office buildings with 320,000 sq ft and a 581-space multi-storey car park. Manchester council has also agreed to contribute £2.2m towards the plans which include buying the car park behind the Macdonald Manchester Hotel.
It comes a couple of months after the city centre’s first new park in more than 100 years was opened as part of the plans for the site near Piccadilly Station. The overall masterplan for Mayfield includes more than 1.5m sq ft of office space and 1,500 homes as well as food, leisure and retail facilities and more than 13-acres of public greenspace, including the newly opened Mayfield Park.
Developers have described this is a ‘landmark moment’ for the Mayfield plans. Manchester council leader Bev Craig said: “The chance to start building is a major move forward in our plan to create sustainable homes, jobs and a whole new leisure quarter at Mayfield.”
Work began at Mayfield shortly after the planning permission was agreed. In autumn 2019, the 10,000-capacity Depot Mayfield opened as a major live entertainment venue, hosting events including Warehouse Project and later became home to open-air food hall Escape to Freight Island in summer 2021.