Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
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by Lib Dem team on 26 February, 2014
With the new multi-storey car park open by Stockport Station, Stockport Exchange (formerly Grand Central) is set to change beyond recognition over the next couple of years with a new public square, hotel and Grade A offices.
Here’s the brochure
5 Comments
Looking good, but…
Not sure about that brown/red brick/tile cladding on one of the proposed offices – methinks glass and steel cladding (as seen on most other new buildings shown) be much more striking and modern.
Also, why must that tacky McDonalds outlet remain in place ? The ‘swimming pool’ side of the development looks like an afterthought !
As for the North side of grand Central Way (the old postal sorting office and telephone exchange) – why does nothing constructive appear to be happening there ?
Finaly! why has Railway Road and Grand Central Way not been made one-way (‘clockwise’)?
This will be a much improved area – if most of this development goes ahead, but, this be needs to be only the beginning – there be the other shabby side of Wellington Road to rebuild !
Is there any thought to making the A6 easier to cross? At the moment it takes 3 separate changes of vehicle lights to get from the Station Side to the town side.
I know cars ‘have’ to have priority over every other public highway user in today’s society, but what about a footbridge or underpass given the volume of pedestrian traffic – maybe the developers could contribute?
My first question is who is going to occupy these offices? There is so much empty office space in Stockport (much vacated by the council when they moved to Slazenger House), businesses no longer need vast amounts of office space so who’s going to take it.
The most attractive part of Stockport is already a retail wilderness, will this development just exacerbate this?
Grand central was a white elephant as a retail / office development, why would a replacement retail / office proposal fare any better?
May I also suggest a cable car from the station to the Market area. this will bring life into the old town / Market area. Matlock sold their old cable cars for less than £1,000
Hi David,
There’s a real lack of Grade A office space in Stockport, and that’s what the bigger companies are looking for. Bringing hundreds of new people into Stockport in the hotel and offices should certainly be a boost to Stockport’s retail and food & drink offerings.
With the Marketplace and Underbanks picking up, especially as the improvement plans for the market start to have an impact, I hope it all comes together to help.
Finally, we’re looking at different options to improve connectivity between the station area and the rest of the town down the hill.