New Lease of Life: The Stockport Pyramid and the Landmark Royal Nawaab Deal

Apr 30, 2025

5 min read

Updated: Aug 18

Some buildings carry a weight of history that makes them difficult to let. The Stockport Pyramid on Kings Valley is one of them. An 86,000 sq ft, six-storey structure built in the late 1980s as the centrepiece of an ambitious business park that was never completed, it has spent more of its life as a landmark than as a productive asset. For most of the six years between the Co-operative Bank's departure in 2018 and planning approval being granted in November 2024, it sat empty: conspicuous, unlettable by conventional means.

In 2025, Royal Nawaab opened its doors inside it. SURVPROP acted for the landlord on the deal.

The Building and Its History

The Pyramid was constructed between 1987 and 1992, designed by Michael Hyde and Associates as the signature building of a planned cluster of pyramid-shaped commercial structures on the edge of Stockport town centre, adjacent to Junction 1 of the M60. The wider development, which some accounts suggest was intended to comprise as many as five pyramids in total, was never delivered. The developers went into administration during construction. The building was repossessed by the banking group that had financed it, and sat empty for three years after completion before the Co-operative Bank took occupation in 1995.

The Co-operative Bank occupied the building as a call centre base for over two decades. When it relocated to Manchester city centre in 2018, the Pyramid was left vacant again. The local business park, which had accumulated a reputation for stalled ambition over the years, had been nicknamed the "Valley of the Kings" in the local press. The Pyramid's vacancy after 2018 did nothing to change that narrative.

The building was acquired by the asset owner in 2019. The original intention was to refurbish and let it as office space. The post-pandemic office market made that proposition increasingly difficult to pursue. An 86,000 sq ft single-occupier office building in a car-dependent out-of-town location, with a distinctive pyramidal form that creates unusual floor plates on every level, was not what the occupier market was looking for.

SURVPROP's Role During the Holding Period

SURVPROP had been advising on and managing the asset throughout the holding period. The work covered the full range of challenges that a large, vacant landmark building creates for its owner. Business rates on an 86,000 sq ft building are substantial, and the rates mitigation work SURVPROP carried out over the years of vacancy is covered in our separate Landowner Liability Mitigation case study.

During the same period, SURVPROP placed the building into productive interim use where its scale and distinctive character made it commercially attractive. Television and film production companies used the Pyramid as a filming location alongside other assets in the portfolio, contributing short-term licence income that offset holding costs. Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service also used the Pyramid for operational training, including forced entry drills, tactical vehicle exercises and firearms training, for which a large, structurally sound but vacant building is genuinely useful and difficult to source elsewhere.

These uses generated income. They also kept the building known and active in the minds of Stockport's business and civic community, which mattered when the time came to bring the building forward for its permanent use.

The Royal Nawaab Transaction

In 2023, Royal Nawaab, the Manchester-founded restaurant group, identified the Pyramid as the location for what would become its most ambitious project. The vision was to convert the entire 86,000 sq ft building into a high-end restaurant and events destination: a 350-cover restaurant on the ground floor, and three premium function and events halls.

SURVPROP acted for the landlord throughout the transaction, navigating the complexities surrounding the building's unique features and dilapidated condition to facilitate an arrangement that worked for both parties. Those complexities were real. The building's pyramid form is architecturally striking but creates practical challenges in any letting: the floor plates reduce in area at every level, the structure is unconventional, and years of vacancy had left the building in a condition that required significant negotiation to address fairly as between landlord and tenant in a long-term lease. The building's proximity to Junction 1 of the M60 created substantial transport and highways concerns for National Highways, Transport for Greater Manchester and Stockport Council, all of which had to be resolved before planning consent could be granted.

The lease was structured as a 25-year full commitment by Royal Nawaab, reflecting the scale of the investment the tenant was making in the building.

Planning Approval

Planning consent for the change of use from offices to restaurant and banqueting was granted by Stockport Council's Planning and Highways Regulation Committee in November 2024. The transport issues, centred on the building's proximity to the M60 motorway junction, were the principal obstacle. The concerns of National Highways and the local transport authorities were addressed through detailed transport modelling drawing on data from Royal Nawaab's existing sites, ultimately satisfying the committee that the development would not have a severe impact on the strategic road network.

Stockport Council described Royal Nawaab's commitment to the building as a strong vote of confidence in the town's future. The council's cabinet member for economy and regeneration noted that the project would bring 150 new jobs and aligned directly with Stockport's ongoing £1bn town centre regeneration programme.

The Outcome

Royal Nawaab opened at the Pyramid in April 2025, following an investment that Royal Nawaab has put at around £15m to transform the interior of the building. The scale of the operation is extraordinary: thousands of diners each week, multiple weddings and events every weekend, and around 150 members of staff.

A building that had been vacant and accruing holding costs for years is now one of Stockport's most visited and talked-about destinations.

What This Case Illustrates

The Pyramid transaction is not a conventional letting story. The building is not a conventional building. An 86,000 sq ft pyramid-shaped former bank office, with a reputation for difficulty and years of vacancy, does not let itself.

Bringing it back into productive use required patience over the holding period, active management of the asset's costs and interim income, and then the advisory skill to structure a lease that reflected the building's unique challenges while giving a tenant making a major investment commitment the security they needed over a 25-year term.

The planning process required navigation of multiple statutory consultees with legitimate concerns about a major new hospitality use adjacent to a motorway junction. The lease required careful structuring around the building's condition and its highly unusual physical form.

SURVPROP's long-term involvement with the asset, from rates mitigation and interim use through to the final lease transaction, meant that when the right occupier arrived, the building and its owner were ready.

If you own or manage a landmark or difficult-to-let commercial building in Greater Manchester or the North West, SURVPROP can advise.