Resilient Landscapes

Mayfield Park

As a transdisciplinary practice we have been able to exercise and blend our three core disciplines urban design, architecture, and landscape architecture to harmonise a vision rooted and deeply connected to its context. This vision prioritises local heritage preservation and climate-conscious development, as evidenced by the centrepiece of the project: Mayfield Park.

Opened in 2022 and spanning 6.5 acres within a 24 acre regeneration framework, the park integrates the once-hidden River Medlock, amplifies natural ecosystems, showcases nature inspired horticulture, original play design and safeguards or rather reimagines salvaged heritage structures. Since opening, Mayfield Park has been celebrated as “an inspiring benchmark for the park of the future” by respected horticulturist Nigel Dunnett and celebrated for challenging the perception of what a modern urban park can be.

The park, which has already been awarded multiple awards, embodies a commitment to climate resilience. It was designed by SEW with careful attention to flooding, climate adapted biodiversity, and long-term environmental stewardship. This month new plans to extend the park and create 879 homes have been submitted by LandsecU&I for detailed planning. For this next phase SEW continue their role as Landscape Architect and share the architectural role for the new homes with Shedkm.

A Park Designed to Weather the Storm

In January, Mayfield Park faced its first major test: a flood event equivalent to a 1-in-25-year scenario. Thanks to its innovative design, the park passed with flying colors. The “wildscape” area—a naturalistic floodplain—and the reimagined river channel accommodated most of the floodwaters, keeping paths, play areas, and other functional spaces dry and operational.

This success is the result of collaborative efforts by SEW and Buro Happold working closely with the Environment Agency. Using river modelling, a river morphology specialist and pre-grown anchored river edge systems the team developed an iterative and practical design that redirected floodwaters into designated areas, ensuring the park remained usable for visitors even during extreme weather events.

Climate-resilient design focuses on anticipating weather extremes, making it essential to understand how the river might behave during both high-flow flood events and low-flow drought conditions. These key parameters shaped the evolution of the design. Buro Happold’s river engineering expertise and guidance were instrumental in reshaping and remodelling areas of the floodplain to ensure a consistent flow of water during droughts while accommodating predicted volumes of floodwater during more extreme scenarios.

Resilience Beyond the Flood

While “climate resilience” has seemly become a go to phrases for any project with a rain garden, Mayfield Park exemplifies its deeper meaning. Resilience is not just the capacity to withstand but also to recover quickly. Following the January flood, the park’s management team demonstrated this principle in action. Estate manager Danny Williams of LandsecU&I is spearheading the park maintenance team who have been quick to respond to the event with preprepared action plans in place and budget already set aside for such an event.

Although the stretch of the River Medlock within Mayfield has been improved, upstream issues which continue to blight many urban rivers in the UK, like fly-tipping and unmanaged vegetation have led to significant debris being carried downstream and deposited in the Park. To address this, the park’s dedicated management team are undertaking cleanup and recovery efforts, reinforcing the importance of long-term stewardship in maintaining resilience. SEW continues to support these efforts through seasonal inspections and collaboration with the maintenance team which also includes landscape contractor Ashlea landscapes.

Extending Climate Resilience Across the City

The lessons we are learning at Mayfield are now helping us to shape future projects along the River Medlock, including Holt Town, Manchester’s first factory colony in the 1700s. Declining for much of the 20th century, Holt Town is now the focus of a regeneration framework led by Manchester City Council and SEW.

At Holt Town, the vision employs a woodland analogy to reimagine how the community could grow and thrive, much like the layered structure of a woodland ecosystem. The public realm strategy introduces a “Sponge Town” concept, inspired by the renowned “sponge city” approach implemented in China. This method integrates nature-based systems to support sustainable urban growth and enhance environmental resilience to climate change. The approach aligns with Manchester City Council’s “Our City, Our Rivers” strategy and builds on the success of projects like the nearby West Gorton Sponge Park.

For Holt Town, a nature-based system cannot rely solely on free draining into the ground. Instead, it requires a comprehensive soak, retain, filter, and slow-release strategy. Achieving this bold vision involves significant further work, as implementing a sponge town approach on a former industrial site presents challenges, particularly due to ground contamination. However, the lessons learned at Mayfield demonstrate that this level of regeneration and environmental transformation is possible, with impacts that speak for themselves.

Designing for the Future

From Mayfield to Holt Town, our work along the River Medlock showcases how ambitious design and thoughtful management strategies can create spaces that are not only resilient to climate challenges but also enhance urban life. These projects highlight the importance of integrating climate functions early in the design process, such as slowing water runoff, incorporating rain gardens, river constraints, attenuation features, and designing adaptable landscapes.

While the rubber works of Chapelfield once claimed indifference to rain, the transformed Mayfield area tells a different story. Across the Medlock Valley, Studio Egret West and our partners are proving that caring about the rain, and planning for it, can lead to thriving, climate-resilient communities.