Produced in 2020 by The Mayfield Partnership The Gatehouse 11 Baring Street Manchester M1 2PY mayfieldmanchester.co.uk +44 (0) 161 509 950
Mayfield is Manchester’s next big regeneration story in the making. Fast forward 10 years and this historic part of Manchester will be transformed with a new 6.5-acre public park at the heart of vibrant £1.4bn mixed-use community including homes, offices, and amazing places to eat, drink and shop.
Mayfield is being delivered by The Mayfield Partnership, a public private joint venture partnership between LCR, Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester and regeneration specialist U+I.
Unprecedented times I write this introduction while at home just as Manchester and most of the world is during Covid-19. I’m sure, in time, we’ll look back with admiration at how quickly, and resolutely, society adapted to the crisis. These are unprecedented times, but I’ve been delighted with how the Mayfield team have pulled together under significant challenges in a bid to keep our project on track. This edition of ‘Mayfield Stories’ takes us back to summer 2019, since then we welcomed 300,000 people into The Depot to host incredible events like Pride Live and shows with internationally acclaimed artists. The Depot is now listed as one of the best venues in the UK and has generated over £8m of economic value. In February 2020 we gained planning permission for Mayfield phase one. A monumental moment for the scheme with overwhelming support for the development and the first city-centre public park for over 100 years. I hope you enjoy this next edition which Len has again captured perfectly. In six months’ time I hope to be telling you we are on-site with the delivery of Mayfield! James Heather, U+I on behalf of the Mayfield Partnership April 2020
In February the planning application for phase one of the Mayfield Park was accepted by Manchester City Council. A few weeks before, I’d spent the day with the landscape architects in their London office.
I put my hand on the huge 230-page document on the table in front of us. “Are you expecting your application to be successful?” I ask. “We’ve done an awful lot of consultation with all sorts of people, and the responses have always been positive,” says Duncan Paybody, associate director and landscape architect at Studio Egret West, “so we’d be surprised if we got a negative result.” “We’ll most probably get consent with conditions attached,” explains colleague Max Aughton. “For example, we’ve alluded to the look and feel of the materials but we haven’t specified the exact type of brick. It’s those details we’ll need to supply.” I’ve already documented these two during the consultation process. They’ve stood outside the local primary school talking with parents; been in Piccadilly Gardens explaining their plans to passers-by; and listened to feedback from various experts at a special workshop. “Who else have you spoken with?” I ask. “We’ve met with the local authority several times, of course: their case officer, tree officer, and access officer,” explains Duncan. “We’ve also consulted with the ‘secure by design’ team at Greater Manchester Police...” “...We had a great day with the green and blue infrastructure strategy team headed by Dave Barlow,
the Council’s senior policy officer,” says Max. “It’s a group of specialists in ecology and landscape who grilled us on our proposals, but in a really positive way.” Over the next decade or so, Mayfield will evolve into a totally new neighbourhood for the city centre. New businesses will move in, some established, some starting from scratch. As a destination on the city’s cultural and entertainment circuit, visitors will pop down to see an exhibition or be part of the crowd at a live gig. Connections across the Mancunian Way will link Mayfield to its neighbours while another community will grow as newcomers populate apartment blocks. The park will be the centrepiece for all of this and for Duncan and Max it’s particularly special. “Max is from Blackburn and I’m from Timperley,” explains Duncan. “So we’re a couple of Northerners working for a London company on one of the most high profile public spaces in Manchester. “Maybe it shouldn’t, but Mayfield means more to both of us than other projects. I care more, because it’s my home town.” “Does it feel like a pressure? I ask. “Not a pressure as such,” says Max. “I feel quite privileged. When you study landscape architecture
you envisage large ambitious projects but in reality you quite often work at a smaller scale. For me to join this company and work on this huge project... well, I’m not going to get many opportunities like this in my career.” The 6.5-acre Mayfield Park is due to start on site later this year, after the now-cleared site has once again been occupied by nearly 40,000 revellers for the Manchester Pride Live in August. With the River Medlock as the park’s focal point I’m intrigued by the idea that visitors may eventually be able to get close to this inner city river once retaining walls and culverts have been removed. “When the park’s complete will you be able to take your shoes and socks off and have paddle in the trickling water during your lunch break?” I ask. “Not quite yet,” smiles Duncan. “With water quality as it is, that isn’t something you’d want to do. The water comes from the moors and combines with a number of outflows and other surface drainage water, so it’s not swimming quality when it reaches Mayfield. But in the future that’s certainly something that might change. Duncan flicks through the volume in front of us to find illustrations of park users in their shirtsleeves strolling along boardwalks. “Our strategy has been to create habitats along the opened-up river to encourage wildlife.
There’ll be jetties and seating areas, so you can see and hear the water – but you’ll be above it rather than next to it.” “Once the retaining walls come out the park will be subject to flooding and you’ve had to design with that in mind, haven’t you?” “Yes, the river still has to leave the site through the same small gap so it’ll behave differently. Working with specialists we’ve designed a park that has an engineered solution to the flood risk.” Max shows me some illustrations with the park in flood. “We’ve created a loop around the park that would still be accessible, with jetties down to the river, up to and including a 1-in-25-year flood event,” he says. “So even after a heavy downpour you’d still be able to enjoy the park. “Mostly you don’t see urban rivers in flood because they are often hidden by buildings and culverts, so this will also be a bit of an education into how rivers actually work.” There’s a whole section in the planning application on Studio Egret West’s design evolution: how budget constraints and feedback from different consultations have shaped the park’s look and feel over time. Starting with a design inherited from a previous masterplan,
these pages show the how the landscape architects have grappled with the challenge of making the park work hard, satisfying as many demands as possible. “At six acres it sounds big,” says Max, “but compared to Alexandra Park or Platt Fields Park, Mayfield will be relatively small. The change in levels – about 20 metres between the platform level of the depot and the water level – and the mitigation for flooding means we’ve had to be as flexible as possible.” As we flip through the pages we see how the park has progressed. All routes have become totally step-free; the bank of ‘seating steps’ have been moved to overlook a large open space suitable for events; more trees and biodiversity have been added; and the location of a bridge over the Medlock has changed to allow for better views. “Most of the cost of the park is hidden in the engineering solutions we’ve had to find,” explains Duncan, “so we’ve literally gone back to the drawing board to see how we can change other things to keep within budget. That process has given us a better design and a greener, softer park.” “That’s just part of the creative process isn’t it?” I suggest. “Absolutely,” says Duncan. “It’s the pattern of many of our projects: you do a design and you get feedback;
you do a revised design and get more feedback. The more cycles you go through, the more refined your design becomes. We’re used to that, it’s important not to get too precious about it.” “Before I let you go, let me ask you about about this thing,” I say, tapping the laminated cover of the application. “This is bigger than the masterplanning document for the whole site. Why does it have to be so detailed?” “The park will be the focus of Mayfield, the first thing that’s built,” says Duncan. “It’s what everything else will look onto. It needs to explain the layers of research and design that have gone into it... and we also we like putting big pictures across two pages.”
“We know there are a lot of people interested in the ecology and biodiversity, so there’s a section on our planting and tree strategy... and another explaining the inspiration for our palette of materials. But yes, it’s probably double the size it needs to be,” admits Max. “Maybe it’s because it’s a labour of love,” says Duncan.
225,000 music fans descended on Depot Mayfield last year for the first season of The Warehouse Project in its new home. I’m invited to sketch in the Depot as Spanish party brand, Elrow set up for their ‘indoor festival’.
A family-run entertainment company since the 1870s, Elrow has its roots in clubs, cinemas and casinos and is now a global phenomenon staging shows across five continents each year. Renowned for their visual and theatrical extravagances, they spend a couple of days before each show ‘dressing’ the venue.
As I draw, Pau and Miguel string up fantastical creatures from Depot’s cast iron columns. “Last week we were in Holland,” Pau tells me as he looks over my shoulder, “next week, Brazil. “During the show we operate the confetti canons and – what’s it called in English? – the streamers. And sometimes we do the smoke machines too.”
ELrow
A dozen or more kids walk in. Eyes wide, mouths open, they didn’t expect anything like this in a disused warehouse round the corner from their primary school.
It’s the press launch for Dirt Factory and, as well as the schoolchildren from Medlock Primary School, there are a bunch of cyclists showing off their skills to a TV crew and a handful of photographers.
Dirt Factory boss Dan Makin gets the kids kitted out with helmets and bikes before he and his colleagues give them turns on a practice track. “Give each other plenty of space and don’t be afraid to put your feet on the floor if you need to,” he tells them. Next Dan is pulled away to be interviewed. “We’re all passionate cyclists,” he tells the reporter, “and we’ve seen indoor mountain bike centres work successfully in other parts of the world and thought we could make one happen here.” “And where do you get 2000 tonnes of soil from?” asks the interviewer. “It’s clay,” explains Dan. “Clean clay from Stockport, a town built on clay. And it’s one of the best materials to build trails with and ride on. We use a binding agent to stop it drying out and blowing away.” Later the schoolkids take turns on the ‘big slopes’. “This is so fun,” says one, slightly out of breath. “I’m so glad we came.” *** “The last time I saw you was at your press launch some months ago. How’s it been going since then? “Really good,” says Dan, now in the upstairs officecum-storeroom. “Couldn’t have asked for better really.
We’ve had a right diverse bunch of cyclists in here from three-year-olds on balance bikes to a mountain biker in their late 60s. “And you’ve had good feedback?” I ask. “Amazing. One mother has told us how this place has totally changed her son. Before coming here he was on the computer games the whole time, was quite narky and made no conversation. Then he got into biking. She said the difference has been astounding. “You don’t have to be a scientist to figure out that any sport is good for you... good for the body and good for the soul.” Dan, a construction manager by trade, tells me and and his fellow directors have been working on the Dirt Factory concept for the last nine years. “In 2016 we launched a crowdfunding campaign and were surprised at the support we got. Lots of people put in their tenners and twenties and nearly half of our shareholders are from overseas.” “But Mayfield is a test bed really, isn’t it?” I suggest. “A stepping stone?” “Initially we were looking for something about three times the size but when we were shown this place I thought we could do something with it. But the response we got from U+I was surprising.
To hear a developer express such enthusiasm for what we proposed was really refreshing.” “It’s not what you would expected from a developer?” “Not from my experience, no.” “So what makes the difference?” “It’s a very different way of working. They’ve got all these assets around them which are eventually going to be demolished so it’s a no-brainer to put them to good use. It brings people here and gets people talking about the place. And hopefully, as we’ve found, the community benefits in the meantime.” Dan and the Dirt Factory team will be at Mayfield until the space is needed to develop the new park. “The long term aim is to find a bigger, permanent home, possibly in association with like-minded partners who’ve taken an interest in what we’ve been doing here. If that happens we’ll just transport everything over.” “Including the muck?” “Yep, including the muck.” ***
This is the second of my stories about Mayfield & Co, the band of Mayfield tenants who temporarily inhabit the remaining redundant buildings across the site. Beyond Dirt Factory, in the part of the site the masterplan has earmarked for residential apartments, is Hoyle Street Industrial Estate where MC Facilities have made their home. It feels as though I see one or more of their team – hammer, screwdriver or power drill in hand – pretty much wherever I go in Mayfield. They are the odd job men and women of the construction industry turning their hands to whatever gets thrown at them. “We’re a one-stop shop,” says director Ian, when I pin him and operations manager, Harish down over their lunch break. “If someone rings up with leaky tap and a hole in the roof and a door that wont shut... and the electrics want testing while we’re there, we can deal with everything. “We’ve got a team of 14: electricians, plumbers, joiners, all the trades, all the disciplines. We’ve got nearly everything covered and what we don’t have in house we put out to a dedicated set of sub-contractors. “How do you differ from a construction company?” “A construction company will build and refurbish things,” says Ian between mouthfuls, “We maintain and repair.
We do the nasty little things that no one else wants to do.” “I could do with you round at our house,” I joke. Ian tells me that already today they’ve repaired some copings stones for Salford City Council that had been lifted by tree roots and recently finished a toilet refurbishment for Kelloggs over in Trafford Park. “And I see you all over Mayfield,” I say. “Yes,” says Harish, “we created the food courtyard; relocated the Portacabins onto the platforms; installed fire alarms and emergency lighting; refurbished stairways; and made concrete bases for the temporary bridges over the river.” Phew. MC Facilities, I learn, are an off shoot of MC Construction, a Salford-based family-run business that’s been going for 40-odd years. “There’s a different feel here to anywhere else I’ve worked,” says Harish. “In fact, you have to work differently from everyone else. You might have a job planned for the day but it can change just like that,” – he clicks his fingers – “but everyone we’ve got is flexible, ready to drop what they’re doing to jump on something more urgent. “We need people with that sort of mentality, to be able to respond quickly to our customers’ needs.”
I’ve already witnessed this company’s can-do attitude for myself. Before chatting to these two, I sat in the next door accounts and admin office sketching their colleagues Carol and Lina. “They’re absolutely on it,” I say, having heard Lena make multiple calls to set up an urgent job. “Oh yes,” says Ian, “once someone asks them to do something they will not rest until it’s done.” Sandwich boxes empty, these two are back to work as I push my bike across the car park to one of their neighbours. *** Easy Peel are a duo of product designers – Tom and Vinny – who’ve transformed one of the industrial units into a woodworking workshop. “No sugar, quite milky,” I reply as we sit in their small office to talk about their fledgling business. “We worked at an exhibition designers,” explains Vinny. “I was on the 3D design team and Tom was the graphic designer. And together with Josh, another 3D designer, we all decided to set up together.” “Was there a light bulb moment when one of you suggested the idea to the others?” I ask. “It was a bit more natural than that. We’d been asked by a friend to help him on a big job across the other
side of the city. We worked a lot of weekends and evenings together and it was a good marriage of our 3D construction skills and Tom’s branding experience. We realised we worked well together.” “It was bit scary to take the plunge,” recalls Tom, “but it coincided with being offered this place by the Mayfield Partnership. It was the perfect opportunity, we had the space to make it happen.” “And we were introduced to other tenants and became part of the Mayfield community,” adds Vinny. “We immediately felt welcomed.” “So what is it exactly that you do? How do you describe yourselves?” The two of them lean back on their chairs. “It’s difficult to pigeon-hole us,” says Vinny. “We design and make things – furniture is a big part of it – but we also focus on public engagement, workshops and interactive design.” “Ultimately what we do changes from week to week,” says Tom, “but our approach remains the same.” Easy Peel’s approach has seen them, in the last 18 months, work with the Mayfield Partnership on community consultations; partner with Dirt Factory to run workshops with both schoolchildren and a charity’s service users; design and make installations for a city
centre bar; create an interactive exhibition piece for The Lowry and collaborate with Standard Practice – another Mayfield tenant – to brighten up a walking route to the site with a colourful boardwalk, planters and flags. “We only try and do work we know we will enjoy,” says Vinny. “Our clients are interested in what we think would work for them rather than supplying a brief.” “What’s been your favourite job so far?” “For me,” says Vinny, “it has to be Coordinate, the piece we made for The Lowry’s exhibition about chance. It was an ideal Easy Peel commission: we made something from scratch from a broad brief; it was super playful and there was a big public engagement side to it.” Having visited The Lowry and drawn their piece, I know how popular it was. Easy Peel had designed a 1.5 metre wooden cube structure with 999 numbered holes in the frame. Visitors would roll dice to dictate where to tie string from point A to point B. “It was used 15,000 times over the course of the exhibition,” says Tom. “We ran out of string, and then our stockists ran out of stock... it was just a simple idea. We’d like to do more of that.” Tom suddenly jumps up to open their front door. A cat meows its way in, brushing its head against my leg. “Does it have a name?” I ask.
“She’s a stray,” says Tom, “we’re calling her Pheobe after the actor Pheobe Waller-Bridge.” Of course. *** About twelve months after moving to Mayfield the lure of romance has since been too great for Josh and he’s now moved to London. “You’ve gone from three to two: how’s that affected your business?” I ask. “It’s been sad to see him go because we started this thing as a threesome, we considered each of us integral to what we were trying to do. So we’ve lost a brain, as well as a friend and capable maker.” “Josh was very thorough,” says Vinny. “He’d be the one to examine our ideas and consider whether we were doing them in the best way.” “Are you thinking of replacing him?” “No, not really. The upside is there are less mouths to feed and the sensible model is to operate as a duo and bring in different people as required.” Before Josh moved on the three of them worked up a design for floor lamps inspired by Josh’s mum.
“Apparently she’d wrap a different scarf around her bedside lamp each night and the
coloured material would emit a lovely quality of light,” says Tom. “We wanted to formally design that so we made a couple of lamps...” “... which are now being exhibited at the Manchester Open at HOME.” I say. “Yes, that’s been great... no red stickers yet but it’ll be good to see what feedback we get. It shows we have the capability to do that sort of thing.” “Before we finish, I have to ask you about the name... where did Easy Peel come from?” “Ah,” says Tom, “we eat a lot of tangerines, and clementines and satsumas. Do you know the difference? No, neither do we. But we’ve found it interesting how the supermarkets now just call them all easypeelers: the fruit name replaced by the method of eating them. It’s a playful name, fun and memorable. We don’t want to be seen as too serious.”
“There’s a mirror in there saying Star and Garter Hotel,” says Ian. “It’s set in the original plaster frieze so it probably dates back to 1877.” But it’s older than that. Originally built in 1803, it was moved, brick by brick, in 1849 to make way for an extension of the adjoining station. A regular Chester Brewery boozer for 100 years, it closed in 1987 and lay empty until 1991 when it began it’s new life as a music venue.
“I was working for a demolition contractor round the back, near Hoyle Street, and this was my local. At one point, there were four of us living in the work’s yard because we all had our own personal problems. It was a bit like Heartbreak Hotel. “I’d been working on and off behind the bar, and when I was made redundant from the demolition contractors, I took on more responsibilities...”
“... nowadays I do all the maintenance jobs and door security. “Since the 2003 Licensing Act you’ve had to have staff at the door of places like ours. I’ve done the course, got my licence and now work at the weekends assisting Andy, the licensee, on the door. It can be half three before I get home.”
“We’ve had Status Quo, The Courteeners, Half Man Half Biscuit, Frank Crater and the Rattlesnakes, loads. “I went to a UK Subs gig – as a paying customer – and thoroughly enjoyed the performance of those ageing but energetic rockers...”
“... The Smiths Discos and Smile nights are legendary.”
“BBC, ITV, Channel Four, Channel Five, Sky... they’ve all filmed in here. Because we’re only open at weekends it gives them a clear 5-day run to get their filming done. It’s very convenient for them. “The latest was a new series of Brassic with Michelle Keegan and Joe Gilgun. “I make myself scarce. They bring their own handyman, their own security. I can leave them to it.”
For the last couple of decades the future of this Manchester icon has looked uncertain.
But now, Mayfield Development Partnership has bought the venue and agreed a lease that will see it continue as an indie music venue for at least another 10 years.
For Mayfield Stories Sketchbook 2, I’d like to thank, in order of appearance: Duncan Paybody, Max Aughton and indeed everyone at Studio Egret West for welcoming me into their studio, egretwest.com Beck at Broadwick Live; Pau and Miguel from Elrow and music photographer Danny Sargent for allowing me to draw from one of his amazing images, dsargentphoto.com The Mayfield Partnership security team: Mick, Lateef, Mo, Big Mike, Mark and Nige Dan Makin at Dirt Factory, dirtfactory.co.uk Ian, Harish, Carol and Lena at MC Facilities Services Josh, Tom and Vinny at Easy Peel, easypeelstudio.com All at Design Manchester, designmcr.com and finally, big thanks to Ian at the Star and Garter for sharing his memories, starandgarter.co.uk Len Grant
Next issue...
In Sketchbook 3 Len will be talking to the trio of designer-makers at Standard Practice about their ongoing involvement with Mayfield, as well as following the much-anticipated start on site of the new park.
Len Grant is a sketcher, writer and photographer. As a photographer and writer he has documented much of the city’s regeneration over more than two decades. His many books and exhibitions cover the construction of architectural icons such as The Bridgewater Hall, The Lowry and the Imperial War Museum North, as well as neighbourhood renewal particularly in east Manchester. An advocate of urban sketching, he uses drawing to tell stories of people and places. His first sketching book, The Rusholme Sketcher, was published in November 2018. www.lengrant.co.uk
All sketches and text Š Len Grant. Design by Alan Ward at www.axisgraphicdesign.co.uk All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without written consent from the publisher. The rights of Len Grant to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
For the second #MayfieldStories sketchbook, Len Grant chats to the landscape architects who’ve designed Mayfield’s upcoming 6.5-acre public park. He goes behind the scenes at Depot Mayfield; sketches inside the iconic Star and Garter pub, and continues his tour of the Mayfield & Co tenants. Prepared before the coronavirus pandemic, Sketchbook 2 was originally published online during lockdown as a reminder of the commitment and passion for Manchester’s most exciting new neighbourhood.