Manchester City Council has submitted plans to turn the 163,000 sq ft former Central Retail Park on Great Ancoats Street in Manchester into an urban park.
Designed in collaboration with landscape architects Planit-IE, the scheme will transform the long-term brownfield site into fresh green space in Manchester’s city centre – while also connecting to the existing Cotton Field Park behind and through to Ancoats and New Islington.
The new park will complement the wider first phase of development of the former retail site, which will be developed separately by the Government Property Agency to create a state-of-the-art digital campus for as many as 7,000 civil servants.
A second phase of development will be brought forward by the council at a later date.
Leader of Manchester City Council Bev Craig said: “We have envisaged a greener, more welcoming future for the former retail site for some years and this feels a landmark moment for this part of our city centre.
“Once a barrier to the thriving neighbourhood behind, these proposals reimagine the site as a vibrant district with a green oasis at its heart, helping to meet clear demand for quality park space in our city centre – and part of a thread of nearby green space investment, including Mayfield Park and Ancoats Green.”
See planning information for Manchester >>
Image from the GPA
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