PP O’Connor to build Manchester’s first public park for 100 years

Manchester contractor PP O’Connor Group has bagged the job to create the City’s first major public park in 100 years as part of the £1.4bn Mayfield development.The family-owned civils firm has already delivered the enabling works at Mayfield, including demolishing a number of former industrial units and remediation works.PPO has also pledged to use, where possible, Manchester-based subcontractors, including Civic Engineers, which has been appointed as lead designer and structural engineer of the park, alongside landscape architect Gillespies and river engineer Buro Happold.The 6.5-acre green space will be the jewel in the crown of regeneration specialist U+I’s transformational Mayfield development.Following the clearing and cleaning of the 24-acre former industrial site, the next phase will see the River Medlock – one of the three founding rivers the city of Manchester grew-up around – uncovered after more than five decades hidden underneath a concrete culvert.Overall, the Mayfield regeneration scheme is set to transform a previously derelict part of Manchester’s industrial heritage to deliver 1,500 homes, 1.6m sq ft of commercial space, 300,000 sq ft of retail and leisure facilities, and 11 acres of new public realm.