Platt Fields, Wythenshawe Park & Heaton Park

Platt Fields, Wythenshawe Park and Heaton Park are part of Manchester’s key leisure infrastructure, being used by families for fairs, shows and events, with Heaton Park hosting a major annual festival in the Manchester summer event’s calendar.

Manchester City Council engaged RoC Consulting to undertake a review of drainage and access issues at each of the parks, focussing on designated event areas in order to see that the summer events programme could be enjoyed to the full without disruption.

Platt Fields had suffered flooding issues during recent storms and the access roads within the park had also shown signs of deterioration.

Following our appraisal of the site, we recommended the implementation of sustainable drainage measures and specified the design for a new access road.

Heaton Park is listed within the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens as a Grade II landscape, for its special historic interest.

Heaton Park is well known as a venue for “Park Life” which attracts up to 70,000 festival goers each summer.

Following intense storms, flooding had been noted in the park and RoC Consulting was engaged to investigate the drainage systems and develop a sympathetic flood attenuation scheme, to ensure the safety and comfort of concert goers and other park visitors.

We developed a “model” for the site drainage infrastructure and devised a robust, yet sustainable surface water scheme which utilised the existing boating lake.

In addition to alleviate the traffic congestion and improve access RoC Consulting desgined a new access road, specifying materials sympathetic to the Grade II listing of the park.

Wythenshawe Park extends to 100 hectacres of open parkland which includes two Grade II listed buildings and a Grade II listed Statue. The park is divided into three areas and RoC designed drainage schemes to drain into a common watercourse crossing the site, thereby helping increasing the available useable space within the park.