Staff within the Stockport Homes Group have begun moving into their new offices ‘Cornerstone’ after completion by Eric Wright Construction.
The new 54,500 sq ft headquarters on Edward Street in Stockport will house around 400 employees over four storeys, with all staff expected to complete the move by the end of the summer. The new facility combines Stockport Homes’ existing services, which centre on managing social housing stock, local communities, preventing homelessness and helpting to transform lives for local residents. The new central location will improve accessibility for customers, maximise joined up working and technology.
Designed by AEW architects, the Grade A facility comprises a basement car park with 61 spaces, along with meeting and community rooms and coffee shop that are also for use by local residents.
Commissioned by Quorum Estates, the 78 week project involved the demolition of the former Lamborghini car showroom and vacant industrial buildings.
Robin Burman, Chair of the Board at Stockport Homes said, “Cornerstone marks another new exciting chapter for Stockport Homes Group – enabling us to embrace more flexible and efficient methods of working whilst providing a central location for staff, and improved facilities for our customers.”
John Wilson, managing director at Eric Wright Construction, said: “Stockport Homes offers such vital social services for local residents and it was fantastic to create a HQ for its team to continue delivering excellent support from a single location.
“We’ve a growing presence in Greater Manchester through our construction and Group activities, and this project creates another important milestone in the heart of Stockport.”
As part of the Eric Wright Group’s commitment to source local labour and materials where possible, the construction project had more than 70 per cent of the project team living locally.
Paul Cook, director at Quorum said, “Feedback to the building has been very positive, and this is testament to our team and Stockport Homes in working with Eric Wright to develop a building on a complex site which has been completed within budget. The building sets new levels of design standards for office buildings in the Town Centre and complements the Town Hall and A6 corridor in line with the Council’s original aspirations”.
Andy Rainford, Director at AEW Architects, said “We are delighted to have designed and delivered such a high quality office building to complement and enhance the Stockport Town Hall Conservation Area. We hope it will help Stockport Homes in their expanding business; helping to attract and retain the best quality staff; gain efficiencies through the adoption of modern working practices in open plan offices; and will ultimately enable them to continue to provide an excellent service long into the future. The project adds to AEW’s award winning portfolio of office projects, including the recent success of Moneypenny, which is shortlisted for a national BCO 2017 Award in the prestigious Corporate Workplace category.”