Member Article

Stockport Council sign deal with Canada Life

Stockport Council have secured a deal to build a new multi storey car park at the Grand Central redevelopment scheme in Stockport.

The agreement, which was signed along with Manchester-based firm, Muse Developments, will see investment firm Canada Life provide funding for the project.

The 1,000 space car park will be constructed on land leased to the council by Network Rail, who are a key stakeholder in the delivery team.

It will be located directly next to the mainline station to potentially act as a catalyst for further developments and a new commercial hub in the town.

Stockport Council hopes to redevelop Grand Central from a leisure complex into a large commercial business district, alongside retail space and hotel accommodation.

The multi storey car park, which Stockport Council said was a landmark deal, will form an integral part of Grand Central, to provide improved parking facilities for rail customers and visitors to the town, as well as releasing land plots which will be brought forward in phase 2.

Senior development surveyor, Wes Erlam, commented: “The agreement with Canada Life is a fantastic achievement for the scheme and for Stockport.

“The delivery of the MSCP has been a long held ambition of the Council and Network Rail, and we are delighted be playing a major part in making this a reality.

“We now look forward to managing the construction of the building, which will be open and trading by March 2014.”

Michael White, property investment director at Canada Life Investment, said: “We are delighted to be working with Muse and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council in providing funding for the construction of a new multi-storey car park for Stockport.

“We hope this will be a catalyst for future development phases of the Grand Central regeneration project.”

David Biggs, director of property at Network Rail, added: “The funding of this scheme is great news.

“The delivery of additional parking spaces at Stockport station will help support future growth on the West Coast mainline, and we’re looking forward to working with Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council and Muse as plans to regenerate Grand Central progress.”

CBRE, DTZ and Eversheds acted for Muse and Stockport Council. GVA and Taylor Wessing acted for Canada Life.

Councillor Iain Roberts, executive member for economic development and regeneration at Stockport Council, said: “This is great news and means we can press on with delivering phase one.

“The multi-story car park is a pivotal part of this development and will provide much needed additional car parking for the many rail users of this significant transport hub.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .