CityRise inks Stockport contract amid rising costs  

Initially estimated to cost in the region of £40m to build, the price of delivering the 196-apartment element of the Stockport Interchange scheme has increased. 

Stockport Council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority were to pump £10m of equity into the project but that investment is now also expected to go up. 

Procurement documents confirming the appointment CityRise Interchange Homes, a joint venture between Cityheart and Rise Homes, as the scheme’s development partner says: “After completing a significant element of the preconstruction phase it has been identified that total costs have increased, although these construction costs are not yet finalised.”  

Cityheart and Rise are understood to have beaten Muse Developments to be chosen as development partner for the residential element of the project.

Willmott Dixon has been appointed to build the scheme and will construct the new bus station next door. Overall the redevelopment of the Stockport Bus Station has a gross development value of £120m.

Upon completion of the residential project, CityRise Interchange Homes will retain and operate the development for 12 years. It is anticipated the asset will appreciate in value during this period and the combined authority and Stockport Council will receive their equity investment back. 

As well as the £10m investment from GMCA and Stockport Council, the scheme will also benefit from £21.5m from GMCA’s Greater Manchester Housing Investments Loan Fund, £3m of brownfield funding and £3.8m of Housing Infrastructure Funding awarded through Homes England. 

Stockport Interchange is located close to another key project in the regeneration of the town centre, Capital&Centric’s Weir Mill. 

The council is to fund the conversion of the mill and the construction of two new-build apartment blocks.

Read more about Stockport’s pipeline of development projects.