STOCKPORT INTERCHANGE NEARLY FINISHED | Greater Manchester Building Boom

In this update of AidanEyewitness, we take one final look at the construction of Stockport’s Transport Interchange around 3 weeks before its scheduled opening on the 17th of March 2024.

I have taken photos and video of the construction at various points from 2021 to 2024. I include a few of these ‘then and now’ images in this video.

Some have said the interchange should have been built right next to Stockport railway station and I explain why this would not have been a good location.

I show why the project is not just a bus station but an interchange, a transport facility linking together buses, trains, bikes and eventually, trams.

0:00 Introduction from AidanEyewitness
0:40 Then and now 2021-2024
1:35 Drone views of the nearly completed interchange
3:50 Springmount Mill
4:25 Farmers Arms pub demolition
4:50 Edward Street residential development
5:00 King Street West residential development
5:50 Weir Mill redevelopment next to the Interchange
6:10 Conclusion
6:30 About the pedestrian and cycle link
6:50 About the location
8:00 Bus gateway penalty charge controversy

As well as some factual information I include a few personal references. I was born and grew up in Stockport.

In addition to the interchange, we take a look at four residential projects under construction within sight of the magnificent railway viaduct.

I will produce a new video to report on the opening of the interchange and how it looks inside, as well as visiting the rooftop park and the pedestrian and cycle link to the station.

All drone footage by Cinemaker – check out his channel, where you’ll find longer versions of some of the drone images in this video
http://www.youtube.com/@cinemaker

Some of the locations featured

https://tfgm.com/projects/stockport-interchange

https://www.willmottdixon.co.uk/projects/stockport-interchange

https://www.stockport.gov.uk/transport-interchange

https://www.l7architects.co.uk/Springmount-Mill

If you’d like to support what I’m doing, you can buy me a coffee (or tea)
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I used these superb tracks from the YouTube Audio Library
Ocean VIew by Patrick Patrikios
Nimbus by Eveningland
The Stoic and the Sailor by Unicorn Heads
Know Myself by Patrick Patrikios

On the AidanEyewitness channel, I produce snapshots of the ongoing development of Liverpool, Manchester and connected cities, focusing especially on new construction, renovation and adaptation of heritage buildings, modern architecture in general, public transport infrastructure, future construction plans as well as questions of urban identity and the uniqueness of cities. I like to document the construction of buildings, taking images at regular intervals and merge them into timelapse sequences.

I’ve been interested in architecture and city development since I was a child. I was doing projects on Manchester architecture in primary school. From 1997 to 2005 I produced my website Eyewitness in Manchester which documented the reconstruction of the city after the IRA bomb in photos and words.

I’ve contributed photos and writing to books, magazines and newspapers. My AidanEyewitness channel is the latest chapter, I dream of a big audience and lots of success, but there is still a long way to go! Please help me by liking, subscribing, sharing, commenting and providing some financial support, so I can fulfil my dream of producing AidanEyewitness full time.

Hallo und willkommen, welcome to AidanEyewitness.  Recently this sign appeared by Wellington Rd   South. Stockport Transport Interchange is  nearing completion. This is my last update   before it officially opens its doors to passengers  on the 17th of March 2024 – that’s St Patrick’s  

Day! In this video we’ll take a look at some of my  then-and-now images of the project and also we’re   going to look at some interesting residential  projects under construction within sight of here. We’ll start with a then-and-now view from  October 2021 shortly after construction  

Began fading into February 2024  when it was in its closing stages. Filling up the field of view,   the transport interchange and the three  tall blocks, two new, one from the 70s. This view is from the top of the the steps  where the artist LS Lowry once had his photo  

Taken by the photographer Crispin Eurich.  What would Lowry make of the scene today? There’s one of those passing freight  trains just making its way across the   viaduct at the moment. I hope those  apartments have good soundproofing. On the left the glass frontage of the nearly  completed interchange, straight ahead,  

The groovy spiral ramp. Wow it looks very  precarious jutting out over the river like   that. The spiral provides a link for pedestrians  and people on wheels from the ground up to the   park on the roof of the interchange,  8.13 metres or 27 feet 3 inches above.

Let’s move up into the air now for a drone  view of the project, which is very curvaceous,   a quality I like very much, though difficult  recreate with my favourite toy, Lego bricks. It’s great to have a new park in Stockport  town centre, and it makes great use of the  

Space. The publicity states that this a park that  everyone will be able to enjoy. What they mean is,   it is – as we say in German – barrierefrei –  it is barrier free – there are no barriers for   disabled people. It is accessible  to all, including bus spotters,  

Who will have a fantastic view of the  buses arriving and departing down below. Okay, let’s have some statistics: There are  18 bus stands allowing 164 bus departures per   hour. The new park will have an area of  2 acres or just over 8000 square metres,   about one larger size football field.

Someone has nicknamed the Transport Interchange  “the tissue box” because of the oval-shaped hole   in the top. I’m not sure if that name is  going to catch on, but it’s giving me an   idea for a model. I think I’ll use detergent  box for the block and lots of model buses.

The interchange extends underneath the  Wellington Road viaduct built in the 1830s,   reaching almost as far as the shopping  centre on the other side of Mersey Square. And further down, the circular so-called bear pit,  which, I trust, is going to be fully renovated.

Let’s do a flashback now to the old bus  station. There the 199 to Manchester Airport,   waiting by the bus shelter, and nearly 3 years  later a construction vehicle, also bright red,   is in use to complete the final work on the site.  That residential building for rental apartments  

Reminds me of a chocolate bar with three different  types of chcolate – plain, milk and white. Three years later, the 199 again heading  down Wellington Rd South towards Mersey   Square. Soon all those Stagecoach buses  will be painted in the yellow BeeNetwork   livery. Stockport will be joining  the Bee Network in 2025. But let’s  

Take a look at some more residential  projects literally within sight of the   interchange. What’s that construction site  seen through the viaduct in the distance? We’re flying from the east above  the River Mersey and there it is,   a big new apartment complex under construction.  It’s on the site of the old Springmount Mill.  

It’s in a commanding position overlooking the  valley of the Mersey. It’s on a sloping site   above Brinksway, part of the A560. Brinksway  was built on the edge of a steep hill. The old Springmount Mill was built in the  19th century and lay derelict for many  

Years and then came plans for the new residential  development. It’s taken a few years to get this   far. The site needed to be thoroughly cleansed  of toxic chemicals, which cost a lot of money. As stated by the developers, that would mean that   no affordable apartments could  be included in the project.

Springmount Mill was designed by  L7 architects, developer Carpenter   Investments. It’s a PRS development.  PRS stands for private rental sector. Just along the A6 is or was the Farmers  Arms pub. It closed during Covid and never   re-opened. Now it is being demolished.  For another PRS project? No for for a  

Drive-through outlet for Greggs,  the U.K.’s largest bakery chain. Close to Stockport Town Hall built 1908 opposite  Fred Perry house built 2010, on Edward Street,   there is a new development under construction,  comprising 131 one- and two-bedroom apartments   for cocial and affordable rent in Stockport  It’s a project of the Guinness Partnership.

Not far away on King Street West, near Stockport  station, conveniently located opposite Ironsides   Lubricants, is this new housing project. That’s  a nice historic photograph of the viaduct being   widened in the 1880s. I think we should  have historic photos on all of our streets.

The sign says: “Step up into your  brand new place at Platform. Find   your way to own. Rent at a discounted market rate,   while you save for a deposit to purchase all of  your apartment or a share of it in the future.”

There will be 73 one- and two-bedroom apartments.  That’s how it’s going to look when completed. It’s   built on this sloping site, once home to a very  cheap car wash I used to go to. And right next   door there are plans for the community fire  station, we’ll revisit that another time.

And now we are back under the viaduct  looking at the Weir Mill residential project,   the tall block constructed cheek by jowl with  the viaduct and other buildings on the other   side at a lower height, and let’s go back to 2021  to see how things looked, quite a transformation.

Seen from above, Stockport’s curvy  transport interchange looks futuristic,   like something out of the science fiction comic  books I read as a child, but the future will be   arriving in Stockport in just a few weeks.  I’m looking forward to walking and cycling   along the ramp and bridge connecting  the interchange and the railway station.

Looks like it needs a lot more work doing  on it and there are only 21 more days to go. People have said actually that the  Transport interchange should only have   been called a bus station, because it  is not situated immediately next to the  

Railway station. But it couldn’t have  been built nthere because the site has   limited access. It would not be possible  to handle 168 buses an hour exiting onto   the A6. It’s bad enough with queues of  cars at the McDonalds on the corner.

The Transport Interchange was built  on the site of the old bus station,   has access in all directions, including  via the new bridge across the Mersey.   The new pedestrian and cycle link shrinks the  distance from the Interchange to the railway  

Station.The distance is about 300 metres  or 984 feet, roughly the same as from the   end of platform 14 at Manchester Piccadilly  the front concourse, or at Euston Station,   from the end of the platforms to the  main entrance. About a five-minute walk.

Stockport Interchange is an interchange  because it buses and trains and you can   change from bikes to buses or trains too.  There are bike storage facilities. And in   the future, there will be Metrolink  – they’ve left some space for it. In the poster for the local elections,  Elise Wilson, former Stockport Council  

Leader now consultant and public speaker.  Andy Burnham is still at the helm as Mayor   of Greater Manchester. I’d love to get  his thoughts on the new interchange and   the prospects for the Metrolink  line being extended to Stockport. And, talking of Stockport Council, this is the  infamous bus gate. As seen in numerous headlines,  

The council have made nearly £1 million  in fines, very bad PR. I think the signage   on Wellington Road is inadequate as it  doesn’t warn you about the penalty charge. But as one project finishes, another is  about to start. The bridges just south of  

Stockport station need to be rebuilt. There  will be major disruption around Edgeley. the Armoury tunnels were opened  up, new bridges were built. But I’ve heard about the  future Metrolink line going   through a tunnel under the station.  I need to find out more about that!

I think the Interchange will bring  great benefits to Stockport and I’ll   be using it regularly. But let’s keep  an open mind and see how things go. I’ll be reporting on the new interchange  when it opens, and I’ll include then-and-now   comparisons using all my archive photos I’ve  taken, so keep watching AidanEyewitness.

If you found this video interesting, please  like the video, subscribe to the channel share   with others and post a comment if you have any  opinions, suggestions or insider information. And if you think you can help me out, then  please donate to www.buymeacoffee.com. Vielen Dank fürs Zuschauen und  auf Wiedersehen in Stockport.