FOR at least seven years Confidential has been pushing and campaigning for a city centre playground. We've written about it over and over again. So it's gratifying that at last Victoria Street will acquire such a gentle and harmless civilising element.
New artificial grassed areas, seating and chalets to cater for community events and children’s activities will all create a pleasant place for people to take time out from the bustle of the city centre.
Work will start next week on the sixth Manchester Garden City scheme at Victoria Street, next to Manchester Cathedral. The design includes the city centre’s first children’s play area, complete with a sandpit and various wooden play apparatus including balancing beams, ropes and stepping posts.
The site also incorporates a temporary Cathedral building, which will be in place for 18 months. The 22m long wooden structure will host services and events whilst the floor of the main Cathedral is re-laid for a new heating system.
There’ll also be plenty of new trees, ornamental flowers, shrub beds and allotment-style ‘Grow Boxes’ for local residents and businesses to plant their own herbs and vegetables.
Victoria Street Proposed Layout
New artificial grassed areas, seating and chalets to cater for community events and children’s activities will all create a pleasant place for people to take time out from the bustle of the city centre. The scheme will also see the introduction of a new cycle lane, connecting Victoria Street to Greengate.
Located just at the end of Deansgate, in the area that was closed to traffic in March, many of the materials are recycled from Chris Beardshaw’s Groundwork Garden at RHS Hampton Court show as well as wooden decking and chalets from last summer’s Canal Festival in Piccadilly Basin, and picnic benches donated by KRObar.
This Manchester Garden City scheme, led by city centre management company CityCo, design agency BDP and Groundwork, is jointly funded by CityCo, Manchester City Council and Manchester Cathedral.
BDP’s Manchester Studio was responsible for the initial design concepts. Commenting, landscape architect Darrell Wilson, said: “We are excited to see the plans for the Scheme finally realised, turning what was a large sterile tarmac road, closed to traffic, into a fantastic community resource. Moreover, we wanted to create something different in the city centre that would be both exciting and fun for people, but also something that would be environmentally beneficial for the area.
Playground for Manchester city centre
“As the sixth Manchester Garden City scheme, I think this project achieves all of these things and very much look forward to seeing local people in Manchester put it to good use.”
Victoria Street is the sixth Manchester Garden City scheme - a project that aims to make the city greener. Others include canal-side planting in Piccadilly Basin, Grow Boxes on Dale Street car park, the orchard in St John’s Gardens, a Northern Quarter pocket park on Thomas Street and the revamped Albert Bridge Gardens.
A community event is being planned by CityCo with local gardening groups and businesses to tend to all the sites, and plant new flowers and shrubs for spring and summer. Anyone wanting to volunteer to help can email gardencity@cityco.com
For more information visit www.cityco.com
