A planning application has been submitted to modernise the shopfronts of the former BHS unit in Stockport’s Merseyway shopping precinct and to divide the space into four smaller stores.
Stockport Council, which took ownership of the site in 2019, plan to remove the canopy and create new shopfronts as part of their efforts to repurpose and regenerate the town centre. The store has been largely vacant since BHS went into administration in summer 2016.
The existing two-storey building was built in the 1960s specifically for British Home Stores, as BHS was then known, and so plans will see the former department store divided into four smaller retail units to help bring the space back into use. Proposals will see the dated façade of the building on both Merseway and Princes St replaced to soften the appearance of the building.
The building also features five concrete mural panels along its Deanery Way elevation. These were designed by
Joyce Pallot and Henry Collins, and were installed in 1978 after being commissioned by BHS. The murals will be unchanged in the refurbishment, with panels cleaned as part of the works.
Plans for the site form part of Stockport Council’s ongoing investment into Stockport town centre. Work began on a new look Adlington Walk, the first phase of redevelopment of the Merseyway shopping centre, in March last year to better connect the shopping precinct with other parts of the town centre, and improvements to public realm in the Underbanks area have also recently completed.
CBRE have advised Stockport Council on the plans, with AEW the architects on the scheme.