KING STREET WEST, STOCKPORT
KING STREET WEST
RESIDENTIAL Project
CLIENT NAME Great Places Housing Group
SCHEME NAME King Street West, Stockport
VALUE £14.5m
START March 2023
COMPLETION October 2024
PARTNERS Bowker Sadler Architects, Markhams EA, Shape Structural Engineers
PROJECT DETAILS Design & Build of 73 new Rent to Buy Apartments over 4/5 storeys comprising: 43 two-bed apartments, 30 one-bed apartments with associated communal space, green roof gardens and courtyard parking.
BRIEF - A highly sustainable transformation of a former car wash centre and van sales yard within walking distance of Stockport rail and bus station together with town centre shops.
SOCIAL VALUE - The site was awarded Brownfield funding from GMCA which allowed the redevelopment of a disused eyesore which was attracting anti-social behaviour. The development of all 73 apartments will be available through the government-backed Rent to Buy scheme. Rent to Buy provides customers the opportunity to save a deposit through reducing the rent to 80% of market rent for at least five years.
CHALLENGE: ABNORMALS AFFECTING SITE VIABILITY - A derelict site for over a decade, this land had been home of a former factory, demolished pre 2009 but had remained vacant and a local eyesore attracting anti-social behaviour and with a number of failed development attempts over the years including car park and new food factory.
The site has three extensive retaining walls flanking the south and west which presented a challenge to the programme as the site team needed to determine the structural integrity of the walls prior to preparing the groundworks. We also discovered a tree growing through the wall at one point which needed removing as its roots were weakening the retaining wall. The wall at the south of the site was supporting the canal but given its age, we could not obtain a structural warranty for it, so the team built a reinforced wall in front on the 100-year-old canal wall to protect the new homes from any perceived water leakage.
There was a live gas main through the wall which had be disconnected and safely capped off and removed and there was also a culverted water course under the canal which needed diverting.
Site topography was a challenge as the Planners were keen on lifting the roofs of the homes so that they were higher than the edge of the retaining wall. This was to help prevent any ASB risk from people on Queens Terrace to the side of the new homes.
ACTION:
Full remediation strategy
Water Course Diversion
Asbestos removal
Gas main capping and removal
Reinforced retaining walls built
Early placement of material orders (UPVC, Concrete and Fences) and loyal supply chain to keep programme on track
OUTCOME: Whilst this project was delivered in middle of the Covid 19 pandemic, the site team managed to ensure the programme was protected and we delivered the project on time and within budget to the highest quality. The project was delivered as a phased handover, to ensure the client could benefit from early rental income from plot phasing as the remaining part the of the site was cordoned off and work continued.
