A NEW public space in Manchester city centre on Victoria Street next to Manchester Cathedral opens today (25 March 2013).
This is another example of underused corners of the city being brought to life.
Alongside the temporary ‘pop-up’ Cathedral (click here), the green area represents the sixth, and most ambitious, Manchester Garden City scheme.
The space includes the city centre’s first children’s play area, complete with a sandpit and wooden play apparatus including a see-saw, snake balancing beam, rope climbing frame and stepping logs.
Play area
This scheme has been made possible through a collaboration between CityCo, Manchester’s city centre management company, Manchester Cathedral, Manchester City Council, Groundwork and architects BDP.
Also on the site, CityCo have incorporated the allotment-style ‘Grow Boxes’ for residents and businesses to plant their own herbs and vegetables, an initiative already proving successful in Piccadilly Basin and Northern Quarter.
The garden also includes shrub beds and ornamental flowers to add all-year-round colour and interest, artificial grass with new picnic benches and a wooden chalet to cater for the Cathedral’s community events and children’s activities. The scheme also sees the introduction of a new cycle lane, connecting Victoria Street to Greengate.
The temporary Cathedral building 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.
Play area
Located just at the end of Deansgate, in the area that was controversially closed to traffic in March 2012, 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. The Cathedral’s volunteering groups will maintain the site.
Cllr Pat Karney, Manchester City Council’s City Centre spokesperson, said: “I hope people think of the area like a European piazza-style square in Italy or Spain - a place to let time slip away, take a break from the busy city and relax. This is another example of underused corners of the city being brought to life, with a real family friendly atmosphere, urging people to make the most of the city centre.”
Commenting on the scheme, 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.
Confidential thinks that while Wilson is right about creating a new space in the city he's talking nonsense about transforming 'a large sterile tarmac road'. It was only sterile because it was closed as a road and so cars didn't use it anymore. That's a very odd statement indeed. Silly.
It is also interesting the Council is still hedging its bets over Victoria Street and beneath the skin-deep layer of landscaping the surface of the 'sterile tarmac' is intact. Perhaps the change here may not be permanent?
Still, the introduction of the play ground and gardens, small though they are, is a humanising, civilising and beautifying addition to the city centre. That's to be applauded and welcomed.
Naysayers will say it will be an area liable to vandal attack which is tantamount to saying we should never try to be creative in the city. Let's ignore those pessimists and killjoys. Small kids and families will benefit enormously from this area on city visits.
Generally, with the work over the river at Greengate in Salford, this part of the city centre is starting to look the part for when we get that inevitable sunny, hot, and long summer.
Play ground
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