Coinciding with Love Parks Week, St Catherine’s Wood – Manchester’s latest city centre park – has formally opened to the public (Friday 24 July) welcoming the local community to the first major green space completed as part of the Victoria North regeneration programme.
Transforming the underused and largely unknown wooded area, the park is at the heart of the emerging Red Bank neighbourhood where new residents have already moved in and there are proposals for over 5,000 more homes as well as supporting community and commercial uses.
The St Catherine’s Wood has been completed as one of the first phases of development in the neighbourhood underpinning the importance of quality green spaces throughout the Victoria North area, becoming a natural anchor for the future developments that will surround it in the coming years. This is a similar approach to other new urban green spaces at Mayfield, Ancoats Green and future park investment at Water Street in Castlefield.
The park is also the first phase of 113acres of interconnected green spaces that will thread through the entire Victoria North regeneration programme - and future phases will include play equipment for young people as local homes are delivered.
Located alongside the River Irk, the park features fully accessible paths lined with gabion walling wind up through the wood to an elevated plateau above via stepped, circular walkways and open spaces for relaxation and small events.
The park promotes the ‘Wild Urbanism’ approach – a concept that will run throughout the Red Bank neighbourhood – that celebrates a more natural approach to green spaces, supporting biodiversity and expanding habitats for wildlife whilst blending the benefit of sustainable, urban living. This includes significant new trees, featuring three endangered Manchester Poplar Trees, and a range of flowering plants and shrubs - while also retaining and protecting hundreds of existing trees across the park.
The restored woodland has been designed to create a healthy, resilient and biodiverse environment across a layered structure that creates diverse habitats for birds, insects and mammal. These layers create diverse habitats for birds, insects and mammals.
The park is a celebration of the history of the area, including retaining the original bridge access point over the River Irk on Collyhurst Road and completed with a Corten (weathered steel) gate with stencilled leaf design, harking back to the industrial past of the Red Bank area.
Information boards delve into plants across the site and the history of the neighbourhood, including the ‘Impossible Bridge’ made famous by L.S. Lowry, and the original church that closed in 1966 before being demolished, which gave its name to the wood.
Salvaged stone from the Our Town Hall project have also been saved and stored at the park to be used in future phases of the City River Park project.
BAM Nuttall was the main works contractor for the new park, on site since September 2022. And Planit acted as landscape architects for the project.
St Catherine’s Wood was made possible by using part of a £51.6m Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) grant from Homes England that will help unlock the wider development area required to open up the park and new homes, along with £6.93m GMCA brownfield funding to deliver the first phase of the City River Park programme.
Access to the park is via Dantzic Street / Collyhurst Road at the junction of Dalton Street.
St Catherines Wood will be managed by Found, FEC’s in-house management company, on behalf of the Victoria North Joint Venture partnership.
Cllr Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration, said:
"This is a triumphal milestone for the Victoria North regeneration programme that is transforming this part of Manchester, while creating the latest city centre urban park.
“We know how important access to brilliant green spaces is to our residents and St Catherine’s Wood is the green heart to the major development across the Red Bank neighbourhoods – as well as Collyhurst and Cheetham that are both on the doorstep of this fantastic new park.
“But this is just the first phase of the green investment. St Catherine’s Wood is the beginning of 113acres of green spaces that will make up the ambitious City River Park connecting the seven new and emerging neighbourhoods and 15,000 new homes over the next decade.
“Victoria North is a new town in our city – and St Catherine’s Wood is only a taste of what’s to come.”
Hilary Brett, Development Director at FEC, said:
“The opening of St Catherine's Wood is a landmark moment for Victoria North and for the communities that already call this part of Manchester home. As the first phase of the City River Park vision, it creates a significant new green space for Manchester that can be enjoyed by people today, while laying the foundations for the greener, healthier and better-connected neighbourhoods that sit at the heart of Victoria North.
“Manchester City Council has created a fantastic new space for the city, demonstrating the transformative role that early investment in green infrastructure can play in shaping places.
“Found, our in-house neighbourhood management team, will be responsible for the day-to-day care and stewardship of the woodland, ensuring it remains a welcoming, safe and well-maintained space for everyone to enjoy. We look forward to working with residents, community groups and local organisations to help St Catherine's Wood become a much-loved green asset at the heart of the community for years to come.”
Matt Stirton, Principal Landscape Architect at Planit, said:
"Transforming an overgrown and inaccessible woodland in the heart of Manchester into a safe and accessible space for local residents and visitors to enjoy has been extremely rewarding.
The existing woodland has been enhanced with over 60 new semi-mature trees, including one of Britain’s rarest native trees, the Manchester Poplar. At ground level, a rich biodiverse field layer of woodland planting will take root, attracting pollinators and providing a valuable wildlife habitat.
“Visitors will benefit from accessible routes through the woodland with new lighting, wayfinding and educational boards providing insight into the area’s history and wildlife. Benches and viewpoints across the site will offer places to pause and enjoy framed views of the city.”
Neil Peters, Contract Manager BAM UK & Ireland, said:
"St Catherine's Wood is a fantastic example of how thoughtful infrastructure can create lasting benefits for local communities. By transforming an underused woodland into an accessible green space, we've helped create a place where people can connect with nature, improve their wellbeing and enjoy a shared community asset for generations to come. We are proud to have worked alongside Manchester City Council, FEC and Planit to deliver a park that not only enhances the local environment but also supports the wider vision for Victoria North as a thriving new neighbourhood in the heart of Manchester.”
Pauline Schaffer, Director of Housing and Infrastructure Grant Funding at Homes England, said:
“Our Housing and Infrastructure Fund is helping to unlock thousands of much-needed new homes at Victoria North, and St Catherine’s Wood shows that building the right infrastructure for those homes isn’t just limited to roads and utilities – creating quality green spaces is an essential part of building communities where people are proud to live.
"We're pleased to support this first phase of what will become 113 acres of connected green space, and we look forward to seeing Victoria North continue to grow into a thriving new part of Manchester."