In 2016 we started asking residents, local workers, and visitors about the site. Our first focus was the amphitheatre. We ran workshops, visioning sessions and on-the-streets consultation. People said they wanted more greenery, an oasis in the city and things for families to do. We took these ideas and created a Community Brief for improving the Square, which we gave to landscape architects, Planit-IE.
We also started to tall to residents about how we might develop the built environment at the Great Northern through quarterly Neighbours Meetings. Residents said they loved the heritage of the warehouse and wanted this celebrated – and if building on the site was being considered, they didn’t want towers as big as the Beetham built here. However, they did want to see a more vibrant, village feel to the Great Northern and more public realm.
In 2018 Planning Permission was granted to turn the warehouse into apartments, to create a new pedestrianised street parallel to Deansgate and to turn the amphitheatre into a park. Planit-IE came up with a proposed plan for the Square – which you can see below. However, we knew we still had to think through how to make best use of the rest of the site.
