Town Centre Masterplan, Stockport

Stockport Council

Working within the terms of reference set out in the briefing paper for the appointment of an Urban Design and Masterplanning Consultant, our proposal aimed to create a framework of ideas to best exploit the town centre’s assets to provide a coherent visitor experience, simultaneously improving the associated public realm, the retail and leisure offer as well as linkages with the surrounding urban context. Working with the Stockport Property Alliance, we aimed to provide an inspirational vision of how Stockport town centre can be revived to create an identifiable destination for shoppers, business and living.

The proposal set out sustainable design strategies to help create and reinforce the Stockport brand and visitor experience, creating a reinvigorated urban quarter.

Working within the framework of existing spaces and buildings, we introduced spaces and opportunities for new, sustainable development that would revive and encourage links with new areas of public realm to form an interpretable whole.

We developed a strategic vision for the Merseyway Shopping Centre and identified internal and external urban squares; public spaces that reflected the town’s identity and cultural background. These are the spaces are where the community gathers and “urban life” takes place. We identified amenities and attractions that make for a more distinctive shopping centre which integrates better with its context.

We began to explore issues of access; how the streets, pavements and buildings affect legibility and understanding of the town centre including the incorporation of highways alteration schemes. We also began to address how spaces interact with each other to create a memorable journey to and from the surrounding neighbourhoods.

Our aim was to create places that are safe and lively, to which people will return time and again. Places that are well managed and capitalise on the community’s assets, inspiration and potential.