Muse joins CyanLines partnership

Placemaker and development partner on key schemes with Stockport town centre’s regeneration area, Muse, has joined the CyanLines partnership in support of a network of walking and cycling routes connecting Greater Manchester’s waterways and green spaces.

The CyanLines initiative looks to create a network of more than 100 miles of routes that link rivers, canals, viaducts and neighbourhoods across the city region. The initiative is helping people rediscover familiar places while making it easier to move between them, improving access to green and blue spaces and supporting healthier, more connected communities.

Since launching in September, CyanLines has brought together public, private and third-sector partners with a shared ambition to improve everyday routes and connections. Muse joins a partnership that includes local authorities, developers, landowners, designers and community organisations, all working together to shape routes that reflect how people already use the city, while opening up new connections over time.

Routes already created in Manchester city centre and neighbouring parts of Salford pass through areas where where Muse has been working for more than two decades to create new homes, workplaces and public spaces designed around walking, cycling and access to nature. These include the transformative New Bailey neighbourhood, as well as the emerging £2.5 billion Crescent city neighbourhood district being delivered in partnership with ECF, Salford Council and the University of Salford.

Through CyanLines, Muse will support the partnership’s wider ambition to connect neighbourhoods, improve everyday routes and help people experience the city in new ways – whether commuting, exercising or simply spending time outdoors.

While the future network of routes is still in development, CyanLines has ambitions to reach all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs, including Stockport, where Muse is on site delivering the Stockport Exchange business district, already connected by a new footbridge to Viaduct Park and the Transpennine Trail walking route along the River Mersey, as well as Stockport 8 (as ECF), a walkable neighbourhood of over 1,000 new homes and new urban park.

Phil Marsden, Managing Director at Muse, said:

“CyanLines is about making it easier for people to move through the city in ways that feel natural and part of everyday life. In Salford, we’ve seen how well-designed routes, green spaces and connections can change how places are used and valued. Joining CyanLines is an opportunity to support that thinking at a city-region scale, working alongside partners to help people reconnect with the places around them.”

Steve Connor, Interim Programme Director, CyanLines said:

“It is great to welcome Muse on board, an organisation doing so much to transform large parts of Manchester, Salford and Greater Manchester. They have an amazing track record of integrating nature into their developments – like the outstanding Eden at New Bailey. We couldn’t ask for better champions for our CyanlLines vision and we are really looking forward to working with them on new routes and projects that bring people and nature together.”