Council appoints DTZ for Grand Central

Stockport Council has appointed real estate services firm DTZ to help it put together a development brief for the Grand Central leisure complex in the town centre.

The council said the development brief will in turn attract a private sector development partner for the site.

The development brief will outline the council's aspirations for the site, including high specification office space, car parking and hotel.

The park contains a cinema, bowling alley, restaurants, a swimming pool and a gym.

Paul Lawrence, service director for regeneration at Stockport Council, said: "This appointment reinforces our commitment to driving forward the regeneration of this important town centre site.

"It is the next step in signing up a development partner to help us attract a further £100m investment and create 700 new jobs for the borough.

"There has already been a lot of interest from developers, so I am confident that we will get a partner on board very quickly. We are very proud of our borough and we mean business when it comes to securing future investment and jobs for Stockport."

Stockport's new Town Centre Development Prospectus identifies four distinct areas which offer regeneration opportunities, including an office-led business quarter around the train station and A6 corridor.

The local authority acquired the 30-acre site in January for around £15m from Deloitte, administrator of Targetfollow Property Holdings, a subsidiary of Targetfollow Group.

Lloyds Banking Group appointed Deloitte following the placing into administration of subsidiaries of Targetfollow Property Holdings.