Stopford Park, Stockport for Cityheart with Layer Studio, WSP, Day Architecture and Sheila Bird

Stopford Park, Stockport for Cityheart with Layer Studio, WSP, Day Architecture and Sheila Bird

The Art Park, located in the upcoming Stopford Park development, is Stockport’s newest creative playground. It is an adaptable public space open, which introduces permanent and temporary installations, playful interventions, totemic artworks visible from the street, landscape-embedded pieces, and interactive features such as painted surfaces and sensory routes.

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Describe the context of this project, its neighbourhood and people.

Stopford Park sits at the heart of Stockport town centre, transforming a former educational campus into a vibrant new neighbourhood rooted in the town’s history and cultural character. Although the surrounding streets are full of life, including long-standing residents, students, commuters and a growing creative scene, this specific pocket has stayed disconnected from the town’s energy, until now.
 
 Spearheaded by regeneration specialists, Cityheart, and working with Layer.studio, the £145m, 3-acre site will bring together 442 new homes, modern flexible workspace, and a significant new public art park, which is an unprecedented addition to this urban setting. 
 
 The neighbourhood surrounding Stopford Park is diverse and evolving, with long-standing communities interwoven with new residents drawn to Stockport, given its current revival as a hotspot for residential developments and business potential. 
 
 The area has historically lacked generous, accessible green space in the town centre. However, this project addresses that gap by opening the site to the public for the first time, strengthening connections between Greek Street, Wellington Road, and the wider civic quarter.
 
 This project aligns with the Stockport Goes Green Framework, also championed by Totally Stockport, which highlights the value of green infrastructure, including cooler streets, cleaner air, improved drainage, biodiversity, sensory comfort and healthier travel.
 
 Community empowerment is embedded in the project’s DNA. The project invites residents, local artists, cultural organisations, and educational partners to actively shape the identity of the park, ensuring it reflects the stories, aspirations, and creativity of Stockport people.

Please describe your approach to this future public realm, including its purpose and motivation. How does it knit into, and serve the needs of, the wider area? 

The future public realm at Stopford Park is designed as a welcoming, inclusive, and creative landscape that redefines how people connect in Stockport’s urban life. At its core is a large, landscaped public garden, an uncommon asset in a town-centre location, which functions as the neighbourhood’s “village green” and as a shared civic space for the wider community.
 
 The design approach integrates everyday amenity with cultural activation. The Art Park, an adaptable green space, introduces permanent and temporary installations, playful interventions, totemic artworks visible from the street, landscape-embedded pieces, and interactive features such as painted surfaces and sensory routes. These elements establish the park as a creative playground that evolves over time through rotating exhibitions and community participation. 
 
 A core ambition of this project is to embed community ownership. Through invitations for local artists, organisations, and residents to co-create installations, the public realm becomes a community-driven project; for the people, by the people.
 
 The park also introduces new recreational infrastructure, including pickleball courts and seating landscapes, encouraging wellness across the community. Clear routes also connect the site into the town centre, enhancing footfall between surrounding areas.
 
 The Art Park will celebrate Stockport’s thriving creative scene and become a place for inspiration and expression, welcoming everyone into the masterplan to sit, stroll and enjoy.

Please explain the governance of the project, describing its viability and any consultation and community engagement undertaken. 

Stopford Park is being delivered through a strong partnership between Cityheart, Stockport Council and Stockport MDC.
 
 Extensive community and neighbour engagement were undertaken in the period prior to the submission of planning. Primary consultees were Stockport Council as an adjacent neighbour, operating the War Memorial Art Gallery (WMAG) and the Trafford and Stockport College Group, all of which border the public realm on the south side of the development. Consultation was also undertaken with Stockport Heritage Trust, the Royal British Legion, Armed Forces Covenant, and local Ward Members.
 
 Feedback from these consultation events shaped the design brief for the public realm. After the establishment of the concept design, follow-up dialogue was held with all affected parties before submitting the final plan for approval.
 
 Whilst the WMAG was not intrinsically part of the Stopford Park estate, the public realm design included the area around the building to ensure a holistic consideration that knitted all buildings together.
 
 As is the nature of development, following planning determination and the further development of the design, amendments were incorporated. Primarily, these design changes impacted the WMAG. However, positive liaison with the building manager ensured that building functionality and operations were not compromised.
 
 The viability of the design is considered at all stages. It was extremely important that the landscape architect had the aptitude, competence, and vision to ensure that the public realm is relevant, considered, and fitting for the location, all whilst balancing commercial affordability.