The hoardings signal what the council hopes to be the beginning of a brand new era for Piccadilly Gardens
Hoardings around Piccadilly Garden(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Huge hoardings have been placed around the Piccadilly Gardens as work begins to transform the city centre hotspot into a utopia.
The springtime sunshine reflected off the bright white hoardings which are blocking off access to the fountains which were shut off late last week.
The partition comes ahead of a long-awaited transformation of Piccadilly Gardens that promises a series of improvements in the area. The makeover was announced in autumn last year, as the council hopes to address the appearance of the area and people’s experience with it.
City bosses are aiming to make Piccadilly Gardens more colourful, more vibrant, safer and more inviting. Illustrations of their vision were released by the council showing what the centre could look like in the future.
The fountains have been blocked off(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Around half of the Gardens – centring on the area around the fountains – will be hoarded off to enable preliminary works including surveys and excavations. The remainder of the Gardens will remain open while these are carried out.
The full scope of the project includes putting the ‘Gardens’ back in Piccadilly Gardens – with more trees, planting and floral displays. When it was initially announced, the hope was for the changes to be visible by Summer 2027
A new space for family-friendly events will be made by removing the old, “unreliable” fountains and using the new space created to hold “enjoyable events and activities throughout the year”. Council bosses say a new, flexible structure will be built on part of the space to help support events.
They aim to make better overall use of the space by also ripping out what are described as “the unsightly low concrete wall and raised planters” along the edge of Piccadilly Gardens, close to the Queen Victoria statue.
The existing children’s play area will also receive some TLC with the council saying it 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”.
The Council is in the process of selecting a contractor and delivery team for the works and will announce who has been appointed in the coming weeks.
A new look Gardens is on the horizon for Mancunians (Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Improvements to the appearance and functionality of the space are being complemented by a range of other multi-agency initiatives to help restore pride and confidence in Piccadilly Gardens.
These include a strengthened police presence through GMP’s dedicated neighbourhood policing team, set up to tackle issues and concerns in Piccadilly Gardens, and planned improvements to CCTV.
Once the work is completed, the Council aims to ensure a regular stream of bespoke family-friendly events, building on the success of popular events held in Piccadilly Gardens such as last summer’s MCR Live 25 celebration to create a year-round programme of events.
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.
Work is expected to finish in 2027 (Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Council Leader Bev Craig said: “2026 promises to be the beginning of a bright new start for Piccadilly Gardens. We’re determined to see it become an attractive world-class public space which makes a positive contribution to the city centre – somewhere Mancunians can be proud of again. That’s what we’re cracking on with investing in.
“We recognise that the success of this project doesn’t just rest on making the Piccadilly Gardens look better but also on improving people’s experience of the space – whether that’s through tackling crime and anti-social behaviour or putting on exciting events and activities.
“While there’s a lot we can do as a council, and we’re getting on with doing it, we can’t transform Piccadilly Gardens on our own and I’m grateful for the strong commitment to ongoing improvements which GMP, Transport for Greater Manchester and other agencies have also shown.”
The council has also pointed out that new turf, only planted at the start of the year after the Manchester Christmas Markets were held there, is to be dug up and donated to local community initiatives.
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