Stockport Interchange was a landmark project in many ways. As one of the biggest single projects outside of London, the joint venture between Stockport Council, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and CityRise, was a key part of Stockport’s £1bn town centre regeneration – with innovation at its centre.
It was a project that we all at Precision Facades were proud to be a part of and it has already been making waves in the industry as the first and so far, only one of its kind (more on this shortly!).
Stockport Interchange has also been shortlisted for several awards, including Best New Build Project – North at the 2024 Façade Awards UK. We are hopefully looking forward to celebrating at the awards ceremony in November alongside our partners at Willmott Dixon and the awesome suppliers who supported us, but in the meantime, let’s take a closer to look at the project…
Overview
The development at Stockport Interchange consisted of a modern interchange for local transport services and the West Coast Mainline, a residential complex consisting of 196 homes and the two acre ‘Viaduct Park’, which has opened up active travel options for the local community whilst improving air quality and reducing congestion.
Aware that this project required specialist consideration, contractor Wilmott Dixon reached out to our team at Precision.
Overcoming challenges
Upon inspection, we knew immediately that a standard support would not work, so the Precision team were required to engineer a specialist support grid, as well as develop intricate interface details between different cladding products.
The end result was a non-standard support structure which uniquely used a Corium Brickslip system alongside Floorspan as a primary support. This innovation made Stockport Interchange the first large scale project ever to use Floorspan with Corium Brickslips, meaning the two had to be fully tested together to ensure the support would operate effectively and to the required quality.
Once we were satisfied with our support structure, we turned our attention to the finishings. It was important that the finished appearance matched that of the design, however the original design intent was of traditional brick but, upon construction, we found that this was not possible. Our team therefore used different cladding products to ensure that it still looked the same as well as aluminium to replicate stone using various powder coated finishes.
Results
Despite its challenges, the Stockport Interchange project was an overwhelming success. It came in on programme, on budget and to the satisfaction of the end user, Transport for Manchester.
From a health and safety perspective, the project came in way above average with a score of 95.55%. Additionally, Assistant Site Manager, Ryan Kinsella won the individual H&S award for his commitment and positive attitude towards health and safety on the project.
This project also brought immense social value to the local community through the Wilmott Dixon Building Lives Academy which was provided on site. This initiative equipped local people with the skills and qualifications needed to find work within the construction industry and is something that we are all incredibly proud to have been involved with.
The Stockport Interchange project also led to other opportunities for the Precision team to get involved in other initiatives, such as a collaboration with Novus Foundation for Change, a rehabilitation training programme where prison inmates across the North West are taught construction skills, and Secret Santa Hamper 2023, which ensured that disadvantaged children across Stockport received a present at Christmas.
Stockport Interchange opened in Spring 2024. With greener travel options, new residential homes, a new green space and events pavilion to connect communities, plus a generation of Stockport residents having benefitted from construction training initiatives, the lasting impact of this project will be felt for years to come.
