| Title: | Stockport Exchange, Stockport, UK |
| Markets: | Retail and Workplace, Public Realm, Parks and Green Spaces |
| Client: | Muse Developments in Partnership with Stockport Council |
| Services: | Landscape architecture |
| Region: | United Kingdom |
| Date: | 2017 |
A high-quality public realm for the second phase of the £145m Stockport Exchange regeneration project, a new commercial district in the heart of the town centre, providing much-needed Grade A office accommodation, a 115-bed Holiday Inn Express, a new pedestrianised public space and a link to Stockport Station.
The public realm by Gillespies creates a memorable gateway and arrival experience for the town, redefining the pedestrian route to the town centre as a grand formal boulevard. The design provides a high-quality setting for the new development, transforming the challenging levels into a sculptural landscape of cascading terraces that encourages social interaction and relaxation in and around the central green plateau. Bold avenues of trees and granite walls reinforce the sweeping curves that inform the space together with feature lighting that animates the space during the hours of darkness.
The new landscape is elegant and contemporary, yet deliberately understated. The design response is respectful of place and seamlessly blends the more successful public realm traditions of the town in a modern style that will complement the new narrative of Stockport Exchange, and promote a step change in quality for this new quarter
