245,000 sq ft office project tops bumper Stockport agenda
The next phases of the £145m Stockport Exchange commercial district will go before the council’s planning committee on Thursday, as well as a community hub in Marple and plans for 45 apartments on the town’s former probation centre.
All three schemes are recommended for approval.
Stockport Exchange
Three offices and a hotel have already been delivered at Stockport Exchange. Credit: via Muse
Developer: Muse and Stockport Council
Planner: Savills
Architect: Sheppard Robson
Planning reference: DC/091580
Muse and Stockport Council are seeking full consent to build a 60,000 sq ft office at Stockport Exchange.
The partners are also asking for outline consent for future phases of the masterplan, which could include another 185,000 sq ft of workspace and up to 100 apartments.
In January, Galliford Try completed the construction of the third office block at Stockport Exchange.
3 Stockport Exchange provides 64,000 sq ft of office space across six floors.
The scheme was the third office block to complete at Stockport Exchange, which is located next to the town’s train station.
1 and 2 Stockport Exchange are fully let to the likes of BASF, Industrials REIT, Stagecoach and MusicMagpie.
Once complete, Muse and the council’s £145m development will comprise 375,000 sq ft of workspace as well as homes.
Marple Community Hub
Pozzoni is the architect behind the community hub plans. Credit: via planning documents
Developer: Stockport Council
Planner: Stantec
Architect: Pozzoni
Planning reference: DC/091420
Backed by £20m of government funding, the community hub would be built on the site of Marple’s former library, police station, and health clinic in Memorial Park.
At 40,700 sq ft, the new facility would be more than double the size of the buidlings it is replacing.
The proposed two-store development will house a new library, café, and five-lane swimming pool on its ground floor.
On the first floor there will be a gym facility, with flexible studios and a health clinic. Two lifts will be installed to ensure access to the first floor.
Atkins Realis, Willmott Dixon, SEP, Collington Winter, Pace Consult, TACE Oobe, MOLA, Kier, and Anstey Horne are all advising on the scheme.
Stockport Probation Centre
The probation centre has been empty since September. Credit: via Ashurst Communications
Developer: Britannia Group
Planner: Ashton Hale
Architect: Ollier Smurthwaite
Planning reference: DC/090964
Britannia Group is hopeful of securing consent to redevelop the office building at 19-37 High Street into 45 apartments.
The developer purchased the Stockport Probation Centre site last summer, before it was vacated in September 2023. Plans for its redevelopment were submitted earlier this year.
Ollier Smurthwaite is the architect behind the proposals, which feature a mix of one- and two-bedroom flats, along with a new garden space and a living wall.
Designs seek to retain and refurbish the historic main building while later extensions would be replaced with a new-build.
The main building was constructed in 1900. Previously occupied by wholesale grocers C J Preston & Sons, the block was changed to house the probation centre in 1983.
Britannia’s Stockport plans follow its success last summer in securing planning permission to transform the former Victoria Park Probation Centre site in Rusholme into 72 homes.
Hint to architects and developers: the Stockport Probation Centre development is the key to limiting public opposition to new developments in their area. If you make it look nice and blend it in with the streetscape, rather than designing something purposely obtuse simply to “make a statement”, people like it. Strange concept I know.
By please stop with checkerboard cladding
Stockport turning into one of the places to live and work. Just needs a few more of those modern/traditional mid scale developments to help bridge the vibrant areas.
With direct trains to the rest of the country and some of the best countryside on offer, the wider Stockport area is going to thrive over the next decade.
Hopefully we are going to see success stories like this in North Manchester soon.
By Anonymous
Stockport doing well these days. It’s a pity the other side of Manchester where I live, Bolton can only make the news for everything bad. The place is so run down these days. Please send us your councillors.
By Anonymous