Manchester City Council have appointed Lead contractor Galliford Try to work with landscape architect and lead designer Planit and civil, structural and highways engineers Civic to turn the vision for the area into reality.
The vision was announced in autumn last year for a wide-range package of improvements to enhance both the appearance of the prominent city centre space and people’s experience of it. Piccadilly Gardens will be more colourful, more vibrant, safer and more inviting.
Now the delivery team will develop and design in detail plans for Piccadilly Gardens ahead of a comprehensive planning application later this year. Subject to planning approval, they will then deliver the final scheme. Stakeholder engagement and public consultation will be carried out ahead of the planning application being submitted.
Preliminary work on elements which do not require planning permission, including surveys and work to remove equipment under Piccadilly Gardens relating to the defunct fountains, has already begun along with the decluttering of redundant infrastructure.
Plans include more trees, planting and floral displays and removing the old, unreliable fountains and using the new space created to hold enjoyable events and activities throughout the year.
Plans also will see The Ripping out the unsightly low concrete walls and raised planters along the edge of Piccadilly Gardens, close to the Queen Victoria statue and transforming the space created by the removal of the wall and raised planters and creating a new playground for younger children.
This will be of the same high quality as recently-created new play areas such as those at Mayfield Park and Ancoats Green but designed specifically to suit Piccadilly Gardens.
Beyond this immediate plan, the Council has been working with partners on exciting next steps for Piccadilly Gardens and the wider area in the coming years including a multi-million pound investment by Transport for Greater Manchester to create a new, modern transport interchange.
