A raft of new infrastructure investment will turn Stockport into a 1M SF office hub.

That is the hope embodied in a new investment prospectus published by Stockport Council.

The plan, backed by a Mayoral Development Corporation, comes as office occupiers rethink their needs in central Manchester. The closer-to-home option of Stockport appeals to many Cheshire and South Manchester-based executives.

The Stockport Station Growth Prospectus focuses on a four- to six-year plan to reconfigure the station’s platforms, add a Metrolink tram line to the airport, and add extra circulation space. Within 10-12 years the plan envisages as many as 19 major commercial sites becoming available in the modernised station’s immediate vicinity.

Stockport’s existing masterplans refer to around 1M SF of new grade-A office floorspace around the transport interchange.

Developers in both the office and residential sectors are already circling, whilst others have begun to line up new developments.

Manchester-based Investar is behind plans for the prominent Stockport College campus next to Stockport town hall. There will be 442 apartments plus workspace and leisure including the conversion of an existing 120K SF building. Work on-site begins early next year for completion by late 2024.

Capital & Centric, the Manchester developer behind a wave of city-centre mill redevelopments, announced the £60M redevelopment of Stockport's Weir Mill. There will be 250 apartments in the Grade II-listed building, backed by a grant from the public sector.