the sunken flower beds. The painting hangs in the City Art Gallery on Mosley Street. 1945 plan During World War II, many warehouse buildings along Parker Street on the southern side of Piccadilly Gardens were destroyed by bombing during the Manchester Blitz. As part of the urban renewal in the aftermath of the war, The City of Manchester Plan was published by the City Corporation in 1945, which envisaged widespread redevelopment of the city centre. A "people’s place" entertainments centre was proposed for Piccadilly Gardens, encompassing a cinema, a theatre, dance halls, an ice-skating rink, a boxing stadium and restaurants, and the surrounding gardens were to be floodlit. The plan was mostly unrealised. Between 1959 and 1965 the empty bombsite on Parker Street was redeveloped and a complex of Modernist buildings was erected, collectively known as Piccadilly Plaza: the Piccadilly Hotel, Sunley House and Bernard House, designed by Covell, Matthews & Partners. Transport interchanges In 1931, as part of the redevelopment of the site, Parker Street Bus Station was opened on the south side of the gardens, and was extended in 1935. This provided a central transport interchange for bus passengers. In 1991, construction work began on a new light rail transport network, Manchester Metrolink. New tram lines were laid along the southern and western sides of Piccadilly Gardens, and a new tram stop constructed. 2000s redevelopment By the 1990s, the sunken garden had fallen out of favour. It was considered by some to be an unwelcoming space, cut off from the main city activity, and its secluded aspect attracted alcoholicsm, vagrants and drug users. Following the 1996 Manchester bombing, an urban renewal programme was initiated across the city centre. Manchester City Council initiated an international competition for the redesign of Piccadilly Gardens, and in 1998 the winners were announced from a shortlist of six. The landscape architects EDAW were the successful bidders, along with their design partners Arup, the Japanese architect Tadao Ando, local architects Chapman Robinson and lighting engineer Peter Fink. Between 2001 and 2003, the gardens were redeveloped by EDAW, with aim of creating a "world class" public space for a twenty-four-hour city. The overall cost was £20.7 million. The 1930s sunken garden was removed and filled in to create a flat plane of lawns. New paths were laid along geometric lines and arcs, surfaced in sandstone and blue Welsh slate. At the centre, a large oval