Next Exchange office set for Stockport go-ahead

Muse Developments is hoping to match the success of the scheme’s first office building with the 60,000 sq ft Two Stockport Exchange, which is to go before the council’s planning committee on 15 February.

The Aedas-designed building marks the third phase at the £145m project next to Stockport’s railway station, following the One Stockport Exchange office building, which was fully let within six months of completion, a Holiday Inn Express hotel and an NCP car park.

It will be located to the rear of One Stockport Exchange as viewed from the railway station, on a plot that is already cleared and fenced off.

Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE are appointed as joint agents for the scheme. Savills is acting as planner.

The wider scheme, which will deliver around 375,000 sq ft of office space and 28,000 sq ft of retail floor space, already has outline planning approval. Further phases include the demolition of the town’s former cinema, following the opening of The Light cinema at Redrock in late 2017.

Stockport Exchange is the town’s prime offices scheme as it looks to stake its claim in the south Manchester office market. The conclusion of the planning officers’ report said: “The proposal will continue to offer significant potential for attracting inward investment and job creation into this part of Stockport, helping it to capitalise on its potential within the sub-regional economy.

The report added: “Overall, officers consider that the proposed building will deliver a high quality piece of architecture to the site.

“The appearance of the current proposal is not designed to be a pure copy of the Phase 2 development, it will be a distinctive and clearly recognisable form of development, and it will however continue to be complementary to its existing neighbours, whilst setting a benchmark for the future.”