Stockport Interchange developer search gets under way

The council is looking to appoint a development partner to help deliver the residential element of its £120m town centre transport interchange, set to feature 196 apartments.

Stockport’s proposals for the site of its current bus station feature a 196-home apartment block, a transport interchange covered with a green roof, and two acres of public realm opening up on to the river Mersey, alongside improved connectivity to the town’s railway station. The plans also factor in a route for the Metrolink’s potential arrival to the town.

Following unanimous approval from the council in March this year, Stockport has now issued a tender for a development partner for the residential element, which is anticipated to cost around £40m.

The partner is expected to invest equity into a special purpose vehicle with the council, and secure development funding to deliver the residential scheme.

The council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority are expected to invest £10m into the SPV to ensure the scheme is viable; Housing Infrastructure Fund money is also available to support the development.

The residential element will be delivered collaboratively with the council, GMCA and Transport for Greater Manchester; this approach also includes “identification and delivery of value engineering opportunities and maximising gross development value and financial returns to stakeholders,” according to tender documents.

The development partner will also be required to manage the asset for a minimum term once it completes, and is expected to be appointed in November this year.

A single design-and-build contractor will be appointed to deliver the entire scheme on a two-stage process, including the residential and the interchange itself. The contractor will, however, be appointed by Transport for Greater Manchester under two separate contracts; one for the interchange, and one for the residential.

It is understood the contractor will be appointed via the Pagabo Major Works framework, which includes Galliford Try, Interserve, ISG, Laing O’Rourke, Morgan Sindall, Sir Robert McAlpine, Vinci, and Willmott Dixon.

The interchange project, which has a gross development value of £120m, has already secured £41.7m of Growth Fund money, which will primarily be used to deliver the transport interchange and public realm.

According to the council, the scheme will take around three years to deliver. BDP is lead designer on the project, providing architecture, landscape design and lighting design. WSP is lead consultant.