‘The park of the future’ is coming to Mayfield

An AI-powered garden unveiled at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025 is set to become a permanent fixture in Manchester’s Mayfield Park, marking a major step in the park’s expansion and its ambition to lead the way in smart urban green space management.

The Avanade Intelligent Garden—designed by award-winning duo Tom Massey and Je Ahn—uses cutting-edge artificial intelligence to support the health and survival of urban trees.

Its relocation to Mayfield signals the beginning of an ambitious plan to integrate this pioneering technology into the daily care of the park’s landscape, helping to monitor tree health, guide maintenance, and shape the future of city parks.

Featuring Avanade’s pioneering AI technology to support the health and survival of urban trees, the garden’s relocation signals an ambition to explore how cutting-edge innovation might enhance Mayfield Park’s horticultural management—potentially transforming how its trees are monitored and cared for.

One of the most visionary aspects of the concept is TreeTalk—an interactive AI tool that enables two-way communication between park staff and trees. The system allows questions like “How are you feeling?” or “What do you need?” to help guide horticultural decisions. Trees can even be configured to ‘alert’ gardeners if they’re under stress, enabling more responsive, proactive and preventative care.

The park of the future

This project marks the next phase for Mayfield, whose award-winning park has been hailed as “the blueprint for the park of the future” by leading urban horticultural specialist Nigel Dunnett.

Danny Williams, Estates Manager at Mayfield Park said: “Mayfield is proud to be at the forefront of innovation as the UK’s first AI-enabled urban park. This collaboration with Avanade marks an exciting step in the future of sustainable green space management, allowing us to harness cutting-edge technology to enhance biodiversity, improve resilience, and ensure Mayfield remains a thriving, beautiful space well into the future.

“The Avanade Intelligent Garden offers a pioneering model for how cities can better care for their green spaces—optimising resources, enhancing biodiversity, and shaping the future of urban nature. We are excited to welcome it to Mayfield.”

While the RHS Chelsea Flower Show served as a test bed for this pioneering technology, its relocation to Mayfield opens up the possibility of applying these innovations in a living urban landscape.

As the project evolves there are plans for Avanade’s AI assistant to operate across a network of sensors, gathering real-time data on tree growth, soil conditions, air quality and weather patterns. In turn, this would enable the AI to provide intuitive, responsive insights into each tree’s condition and offer recommendations to support its care.

What is the Avanade Intelligent Garden?

The Avanade Intelligent Garden is an urban forest garden designed to support urban trees – essential allies in combating climate change and creating more hospitable living conditions in our cities.

Urban trees filter air pollution, cool the air, support wildlife, and boost community wellbeing. Yet, they face immense challenges – from climate stress to lack of perceived value – resulting in reports suggesting that 50% do not survive beyond 10 years and up to 30% of urban trees die in their first year. Most trees reach their ecological peak at 50 years old, yet a study found it takes up to 16 years for a newly planted urban tree to become carbon neutral. Globally we are planting defunct urban forests that struggle to thrive.

The garden is equipped with sensors that track tree health – monitoring growth, sap flow, soil conditions, air quality, and weather patterns. AI analyses this data, spotting trends and predicting future conditions to provide simple, actionable advice.

Through a web-based app, Show visitors can have one-on-one conversations with trees, learning what specific care they need and how they are faring. Trees will even alert their custodians if they anticipate issues like over or under-watering.

Supporting urban trees

Tom Massey said: “Urban trees are some of our most powerful allies in tackling climate change—cooling our cities, filtering air pollution, supporting biodiversity, and improving our wellbeing. But they’re under constant pressure, and too many don’t survive long enough to deliver their full value.”

“By bringing the Avanade Intelligent Garden to Mayfield, and expanding the technology we are piloting at RHS Chelsea across a living, much-used urban park, we hope to test this innovation in a real-world setting and gather valuable data over the longer term. By combining smart, responsive technology with human stewardship, our aim is to give trees the best possible chance—not just to survive, but to thrive for generations to come.”

The Avanade Intelligent Garden will be the first part of a wider threshold development linking Mayfield Park to Manchester Piccadilly. It will be located next to the award-winning Mayfield Depot and the Star & Garter pub.

What’s the story behind Mayfield Park?

Mayfield Park, the first city-centre park built in Manchester for 100 years, has transformed a previously derelict area of the city into a biodiverse expanse of green and blue, thanks to a ground-breaking strategy by The Mayfield Partnership, the team behind its development.

Once riddled with contaminates and with decades of industrial use behind it, the 6.5 acre park will be the centrepiece of a 24-acre development of residential, commercial and retail buildings. Crossing the line between civic space and urban garden, it includes a seasonally-shifting mix of 63,000 plants, a wildflower meadow, ornamental grasses and 140 trees of 40 different species.

With a design led by Duncan Paybody at Studio Egret West, the park was made possible by a public-private partnership between Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester, LCR and developer Landsec, and is a visionary move to establish a high-quality landscape scheme that can respond to the climate crisis as well as creating a nature-rich haven for visitors, in a city where people can easily lose contact with the natural world.

You can find out more about the Avanade Intelligent Garden by clicking here