Deal agreed with Landsec for first phase of 24-acre site in Manchester

The Mayfield Partnership has reached an agreement to fund the first phase of development at the 24-acre central Manchester site with Landsec, regeneration developer U+I’s parent company.

The deal allows Landsec to begin drawing down land from an agreed first phase along the south side of the city-centre site that could total more than 800,000 sq ft of mixed-use development with a potential GDV of £400m.

The first plots available for draw down from this agreement include two office buildings totalling 320,000 sq ft and a 581-space multi-storey car park, which were granted unanimous planning consent in January 2020.

Subject to a number of workstreams being completed, Landsec could be on site in 2023 with an expected 24-month programme to deliver of the first building – the 76,000 sq ft Poulton and a multi-storey car park.

Since the Mayfield Partnership – a joint venture between U+I, Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester and LCR – was established, it has already delivered significant success.

A Strategic Regeneration Framework was agreed with Manchester City Council and in 2020, detailed consent was granted for the first phase of development, with the Partnership securing £23m of central Government, Covid-recovery funding to build the first new city-centre public park in Manchester for more than 100 years.

The 6.5-acre Mayfield Park, which is becoming a popular visitor destination, opened to the public at the end of September this year.

The overall masterplan for Mayfield will see more than 1.5m sq ft of commercial office development, more than 1,500 homes and a significant food, leisure and retail offer all built around more than 13-acres of public greenspace.

Mike Hood, U+I’s chief executive says: “We are extremely proud of the work we have done with our partners at Mayfield to design a truly sustainable, mixed-use regeneration scheme for this important site in Manchester.

“We are excited for the opportunity to deliver the next phase of our scheme, continuing our commitment to the project and to the city of Manchester. The opportunity to work with our colleagues at Landsec to fund this first phase of development at Mayfield is significant progress on a strategy to unlock our wider mixed-use regeneration portfolio and is a big step forward in our mission to become the best mixed-use regeneration investor and developer in the UK.”