Bus station construction
Public transport facility
There were only a few months to go before it closed. The old bus station was laid out on former industrial land. Prior to its construction, buses used Mersey Square as their terminus, with only basic facilities and no bus shelters, I remember. When it opened, the new bus station was a big improvement. Over the years, many local residents have started and finished their journeys here, myself included.
Let’s take one last look at those rather infamous bus shelters. It wasn’t a very welcoming place at night, it was often cold, windy and rather bleak. By February 2022 the site was cleared, the old bus station was gone and the foundations were being laid for the new interchange. By the 17th of April 2022, the concrete core of the new residential building on the left was well under way. Looking over to the Weir Mill site, we can see work hasn’t started yet on the new tall residential tower to be built right in front of the viaduct. In mid - 2022 we still had a wide view of the viaduct from this viewpoint. I’m looking down from Wellington Road South by the corner of the Hat Museum. By August, four months later, the main structure of the new bus station was appearing, its curved forms already visible with a row of pillars in the foreground.
The lower sections of the residential building are already rising well above street level. This reminds me of building architectural structures with my Lego bricks as a small child, growing up not very far from here. Two months on, the construction is gaining height and becoming more complex. The residential tower on the left now starting to climb skywards, its lower floors wrapping around the concrete core. The site looks quite dramatic in wide angle, the metal bars inside the reinforced concrete slabs are noticeable. The pillars on the other side of the bus station are also visible. They will surround the oval-shaped cut-out area where the buses will stop to drop off and take on passengers. On the 4th of November 2022 work was continuing, yellow protective railings had appeared on the edge of the floors, now extending a few floors above street level.
The cranes are lifting building materials into place as work on the new bus station continues. Let’s jump back again to October 2021 and compare it with the scene on the 14th of January 2023, quite a transformation. So now let’s go for a walk around the main site and take a look at it from different angles. The main building contractor Wilmot Dixon is featured prominently all around the site. The official name of course is Stockport Interchange because it enables you to change between different modes of transport: bus and train initially and hopefully in the future, trams. So will this new facility make life in this sometimes grey and rainy northern town centre a little more pleasant, comfortable and convenient? I think it will. It’s now or never, our decisive decade, says the sign. “A new transport interchange, town centre park and residential development for Stockport with up to 200 new residential apartments right in the centre of Stockport.”.
And there they are. The view from the top should be impressive. These are the organisations backing the project.
One of the most prominent features is
“a new two-acre park above the interchange, bringing more green space to stockport town centre for all to enjoy.”.
Well, it is a public transport facility. Another interesting feature is the link bridge and footpath which will provide an improved connection to the railway station up on the hill. Since its construction in the 1840s people have been saying that it’s not in the most convenient location. The visualisation shows lots of happy people dressed in summer clothing.
Where are the senior citizens, people in mobility scooters and youths in hoodies? This visualisation shows bird’s eye view of the park built around the oval-shaped interior zone for the buses, with footpaths, seating, grass and plants, good for bus spotters with notebooks observe the coming and going of the bus traffic.
Next, we walk down to Daw Bank to look at the south-west corner of the development. There we see the windows of the apartments and the characteristic purple insulation panels appearing. Those yellow and blue sections will gradually move up and up as each floor is built. Here’s what the north-west corner of the site looks like at the moment, with the new apartment block rising up towards the airspace above, planes on final approach to Manchester Airport flying around 1100 feet or 335 metres overhead. The residential block is 55m or 180ft in height. And this is what the finished building will look like. Many people say it’s oversized and will block views of the viaduct.
But as in other construction projects of this type, a large residential building helps to pay for the whole project. Economic development or aesthetics and sightlines. Which is better? Answers in the comments. On the neighbouring Weir Mill site, we look through the fence to see where the controversial new tower will appear right next to the viaduct. It’s remarkable to think that Weir Mill pre-dates the railway viaduct. It was built in the late 1700s. Around sixty years later, the new brick railway viaduct was built over the mill, dividing the original site into two. Looking from the west we can see the main part of Weir Mill on the left.
It stood empty for years. We really have waited a very long time for this development to take place. If this were in London I’m sure things would have been very different, but we are two hours by train north west of London. At least now, things are finally happening. I will cross-fade to the architect’s visualisation to show how the new residential building will look. It’s of the same design as the tower on the east side, but much lower. Let’s walk back up to the station approach. That’s where the new gently sloping footpath is going to be.
It’s an improvement on the old steps leading up the hillside. The distance and height difference between the railway station and the interchange is not ideal but we can’t do anything about the terrian. We’re just across from the Central Library, where controversy continues regarding its future use. The foundation stone was laid by Alderman George Ball chairman of the Parks, Museum and Library committee on August 1, 1912. I wonder what he would think if he could have lookeed 110 years into the future. It’s clear the Carnegie-funded building needs renovation but as I walk around, I can’t help noticing the wonderfully friendly, homely historic atmosphere there is here. The staff are always very helpful. It’s been well used by generations of Stockport residents before us.
That magnificent glass circular glass dome really adds something. They don’t make them like that anymore. The plan is to move most of the books to the new library units located in some former commercial spaces down in the shopping centre, with a car park on the roof above it. For me the old library is actually much more convenient. It’s close to bus stops, the railway station and car parks. There is a ongoing campaign to keep library services in the existing library. It's felt that people were not properly consulted in the decision. There’s a petition, link down below.
To use a phrase that’s come up in the comments, we’ll just have to wait and see. And that applies to the whole of the new bus interchange project. One commenter said: “We haven’t seen the finished article yet with the bus station. Artist’s impressions always look good.” Another remarked: “The apartment block will impede the view of the viaduct but the rooftop gardens and walkway will take people closer to it and maybe even make its presence even greater.”. I'm not expecting any design mess ups, such as Manchester’s Arndale Centre bus station. On completion in 1979, they discovered that the entrance was too low to allow adequate clearance for double decker buses so the opening was delayed by a year. It closed fter the IRA bomb in 1996 and never re-opened. But as we look back to Stockport’s old bus station in March 2021, I think the new one will be a big improvement, but as they say, we’ll have to wait and see.