Securing Landmark Planning Consent for an 18-Storey Build-to-Rent Tower in Stockport Town Centre
Updated: Aug 18
The site on Piccadilly and Fletcher Street in Stockport town centre had been a surface car park for years: well-located, close to St Peter's Square, adjacent to the 11-storey Regal House block, but sitting idle. The client's ambition was significant: an 18-storey build-to-rent tower delivering 98 new homes, seven three-bedroom townhouses along the Fletcher Street frontage, ground-floor retail space, and public realm improvements on both Piccadilly and Fletcher Street.
If consented, it would become Stockport's tallest residential building.
But tall buildings in sensitive town centre locations attract scrutiny. The proximity to listed buildings raised design concerns from planning officers. The initial scheme required amendments to satisfy Stockport Council on two fronts: affordable housing provision - 5% in line with local planning policy and enhanced fire safety arrangements. Both had to be resolved without unravelling the scheme's core proposition.
SURVPROP's Approach
Our role was to co-ordinate the full design team through the planning process - managing the interface between architects, structural engineers, fire safety consultants, and specialist advisors, and keeping the client's brief intact through each round of amendments.
What makes the planning process for schemes of this scale genuinely difficult is not usually a single objection - it's the accumulation of unresolved concerns that individually seem manageable but collectively stall a decision. Managing that process means understanding which issues are negotiable and which aren't, and sequencing the responses in a way that builds officer confidence rather than reopening closed questions.
Working closely with Stockport Council's planning officers, we guided the design team through targeted revisions. The affordable housing position was confirmed early to remove one of the primary points of risk before the committee stage. Fire safety arrangements were reviewed and strengthened in consultation with specialist consultants, producing a revised package that met officers' requirements. Stakeholder engagement ran in parallel: community consultation, responses to neighbouring occupier representations, and ongoing coordination with the local planning authority to address concerns before they became grounds for refusal.
The Result
Stockport Council approved the scheme. The 18-storey tower: 98 apartments across one, two, and three-bedroom typologies, seven Fletcher Street townhouses, and 7,500 sq ft of ground-floor retail - became the tallest consented residential building in Stockport, on a site that had been a surface car park.
Public realm improvements to both Piccadilly and Fletcher Street were secured as part of the consent.
Getting a landmark consent through a planning committee is rarely about the quality of the drawings alone. It is about the quality of the process that sits behind them: the co-ordination, the preparation for every objection before it arrives, and the ability to respond credibly under pressure. That is where the outcome is actually decided.
Working on a complex residential or mixed-use development in Manchester or the wider North West? Get in touch with SURVPROP — we advise on planning strategy, design team management, and technical due diligence throughout the development lifecycle.
