Work starts on £50m Stretford regeneration
Caddick Construction is on-site to deliver the first phase of Bruntwood and Trafford Council’s plans for the town centre, including the refurbishment of existing retail units and the creation of a town square.
The joint venture’s wider masterplan for Stretford will see the delivery of up to 800 homes and 7,750 sq ft for learning and non-learning institutions, as well as 140,000 sq ft of commercial space and 30,000 sq ft of leisure space.
Designed by architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Studio Mutt, phase one will see the overhaul of the 1960’s Stretford Mall.
The shopping centre’s King Street roof will be removed to create an open-air high street and town square featuring upgraded units for retailers, restaurants, and bars. These renovations will provide new signage, shopfronts, and building facades.
Plans will also see the existing multi-storey car park on-site repurposed to provide ground-floor pop-up markets, while the creation of King Street Square will deliver outdoor seating areas, market stalls, and space to host community events.
Cllr Liz Patel, Trafford Council’s executive member for economy and regeneration, said: “This work will transform Stretford Mall and create a vibrant and exciting King Street with a mix of local and national traders and businesses…
“The new King Street Square is also a fabulous addition and will become a focal point for the whole community.”
Trafford Council received £17.6m funding for its King Street proposals from the government’s £830m Future High Streets Fund.
Caddick was appointed to carry out the work on a £12.4m contract last September.
Paul Dodsworth, managing director of Caddick Construction Group said: “This landmark scheme is set to leave a lasting impression on Stretford town centre and most importantly transform the lives of those in nearby communities.
“Caddick is very pleased to have been selected as the construction partner for the scheme, and our role in Trafford Council and Bruntwood’s wider master plan for the area.”
Avison Young is the planning consultant for the scheme.
The project team also includes landscape architect Exterior Architecture, project manager Buro Four, and transport consultant Civic Engineers. DW Consulting is the structural engineer and Hydrock is the M&E consultant.
Andrea George, town centre and consumer brands director at Bruntwood, said: “Injecting life back into the heart of Stretford and creating a positive community-led culture that allows both businesses and residents to thrive is at the heart of our transformation of King Street.
“Our ambitious plans will redefine the purpose and value of the high street to encourage collaboration and create an inspiring backdrop for Stretford and its communities”, she continued.
“Bringing forward phase one of the Stretford masterplan reaffirms the joint venture’s commitment to create thriving places.”
Phase one of Bruntwood and Trafford Council’s Stretford regeneration is expected to complete in autumn 2024, with plans for 800 new homes and green space due to be submitted later this year.
To learn more about phase one of the Stretford Mall project, search for application number 107558/FUL/22 on Trafford Council’s planning portal. Plans for the wider scheme can be found at 103844/HYB/21.
All sounds really good for Stretford, but let’s not forget that both Trafford Council and the owners of the Mall are equally guilty of allowing the town centre and the mall to decline over the past decade or more. Rents in the Mall were astronomical and this is down to pure greed. Now, they are tinkering with Kingsway to make it more cycle and pedestrian friendly, but how will the new visitors and future buyers of the 800 proposed homes park their cars or are we going to see all these new residents come in on bikes. Trafford Council are idiots if they think people will cycle everywhere, it’s just not practicable or sensible.
By Fred Shito
Why wasn’t I consulted on this?
By The voice of reason
More pressure on Traff center
By Anon3
Another absolute waste of money, why bother nobody shops in Stretford its a total depressing experience, it doesnt matter how much you try and dress it up and fill the cracks it will never be like it used to be in its heyday.
I certainly wouldn’t spend any money there, what do pensioners want with these arty farty shops etc.
The council etc seem to have plenty of funds to waste.
By The We Never Sleep Collection Agency
Developments include a cycle lane and then get the typical comments from people seeing it as a threat. Your car isn’t being taken away from you. The bulk of the car parks are staying, so you’ll still be able to drive to Stretford. Where will the residents park? The currently un-used top floor of the multi-storey will see use. Census data shows car ownership is nowhere near 100%, particularly in areas like Stretford. But if every residence did a car parking space, then some drivers would moan about traffic. You can’t have it both ways. Better to build in sustainable locations like this where you can walk to the gym, Aldi, Boots, Stretford Foodhall, restaurants Metrolink, schools, parks, than an extra 800 residents on green fields stuck on dual carriageways to get a pint of milk.
By Car Park
What does this mean for upheaval and noise.
By Anonymous
You can’t polish a ….! I’ve lived in Stretford all my life and seen it deteriorate badly. It will never be the golden ‘mecca’ that some people think it will become. All these ‘new’ Stretford residents never saw the town in its heyday – wow, what a superb place it was, but alas no more. Why people seem to want to live here in this urban hellhole beggars belief. I’ve been a Labour voter all my life, but all I see from this Labour-run council is hatred and despise for the car user. Stretford has main roads running through it and all this turning into cycle lane business will create is ‘arterial chaos’. Many people seem to think that there will be a lot of ‘arty farty’ shops and I think that they are correct in their assumptions, this is definitely not what Stretford needs. The mall needs all the big companies back, just look what we’ve lost over the past few years – B & M, Iceland, Nat West Bank, Poundland, Pound World, Superdrug, Tesco, T J Hughes, and Wilko’s amongst many others. If Stretford Foodhall is a typical example of what we can expect – a burger on a bun in tin foil for £9 without any salad or side of chips, then you can forget it.
By Fred Shito
Fred – the council have only owned the site for three years and the days for Stretford as a regional retail destination have been userped by Trafford Centre, White City and others – it’s time Stretford embraced being a vibrant local centre again! Applaud the proposals
By Resident
If all you aspire to for Stretford is B and M and Poundland, I feel sorry for you. Maybe you should move to somewhere closer to ‘Salford Shopping City’ (which actually has a good selection of shops including Poundland you’ll be pleased to hear)
There’s nothing wrong with you hopping into your car and driving wherever you would like is there? The rejuvenation of Kingsway is well overdue and will hopefully join, at least North and South Stretford up and more importantly, hopefully stop people driving up and down there at 50mph. Nothing has screamed 1960s more than Kingsway.
Why Stretford is such a mess? I think you mentioned it yourself ‘Stretford has main roads running through it’ which is why it’s, as you called it, an ‘urban hellhole’ I’m convinced the Kingsway work will go part way to negating your description of Stretford.
I fully support the work being completed despite the possible delays…now.. if they just reduce Chester Road to 2 lanes each way, it would perfect when finished.
By Cardriverandcyclist
All I hear from motorists is moan, moan, moan. The whole world was re-designed to suit you and you’re STILL not happy. Learn to share the road, not everybody owns a car for goodness sake.
By Anonymous
I’m a pedestrian, all I hear from cyclists is the same moan, moan moan. The pavements are for us not for you.learn to share the rd with motorists and leave us out of it. (See we can all do it…;-)
By Drivincyclinwalkerist
Don’t bawl over the new Mall. We did see it coming, after all. At least it won’t smell of wee. I hope.
By Stretford Ed
The amount of space that is being dedicated to cycle lanes and pedestrians is far too large, there was enough space to accomplish this and still have two traffic lanes in each direction. Who thought up the wide yellow pathways – the wizard of oz and thanks for the channels full of pebbles which when a few get knocked into the road will be thrown up by vehicle wheels against the windscreens of others behind. This daft scheme will do nothing to enhance the area and people will still ride on the pavements. In the rush hour before this began it often took a long time to drive through king street and now it will surely take longer. It was suggested people should take another route to avoid this but why should they have to. Millions down the drain which could have been better spent on fixing the ever expanding network of potholes.
By despairing ratepayer.