Stockport Council is looking to transform the grade two-listed Turner’s Vaults into a flexible event and performance space, while 18-19 Market Place will become a creative workspace with a food and beverage offering.
Funds for the project come from a £2.63m award from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport’s Cultural Development Fund. Stockport Council was one of only seven councils to secure money from the fund’s second round.
To bring its Creative Campus vision to life, Stockport Council has begun the procurement process for two key elements of the project: Turner’s Vaults and 18-19 Market Place.
The council is looking to hire an architect, cost consultant and contract administrator, and MEP engineer. These three roles will form the project’s design team with the architect as lead consultant.
The contract for the design team would run from November 2022 through March 2024.
Turner’s Vaults sits below St Petersgate Bridge and has been vacant for more than 60 years. The grade two-listed space dates to 1895. It has historically been a storage area.
Stockport Council is seeking to transform the vaults into a 5,000 sq ft flexible performance and events space. The future venue would have a capacity of 500 and could offer a variety of day-to-night activities, from workshops to digital art installations to live performances. Initial cost estimates by RPS Group put the build cost at £1.5m.
18-19 Market Place was the most recently studio space for Manchester Metropolitan University. Credit: Fiona Davies, PNW
Under the Stockport Creative Campus plans, 18-19 Market Place would become a center for sustainable innovation. There would be a sustainability-focused food and beverage spot on the ground floor and basement levels and workspaces above.
While 18-19 Market Place was most recently used as a studio space, the grant funding will go on to enhance the building to incorporate sustainability innovations. It will continue to offer workshops and studio spaces, as well as an exhibition space on the upper floor.
Preliminary estimates by RPS put the build cost for this part of the project at £266,500 – but do not include design fees.
Those interested in applying for the design team can find more information on The Chest. The reference number is DN628246.
