Office block could replace Lamborghini showroom

PLANS have been lodged to build a 70,000 sq ft office block for Stockport Homes on the site of the town’s Lamborghini dealership, which is housed in a 1920s car showroom.

Quorum Estates, the Wilmslow-based landlord, previously won consent for 65 apartments at the site in Edward Street, behind Stockport town hall, but the scheme stalled.

Stockport Homes, which manages former council housing stock in the borough, wants to bring together 450 staff at a new building who currently work across four offices.

Quorum’s previous consent included the retention of the car showroom’s facade, which was built in the 1920s for the Hollingdrakes dealership. Now it wants to demolish the entire building to make way for a four-storey block, pictured below.

It sits within a conservation area and has a local listing but was not considered to have enough historical merit for protection by English Heritage.

Documents filed with the planning application state: “The Heritage Statement proposed stockport homes office blockgoes on to note that the car showroom is identified as a ‘locally important building’ as an example of interwar architecture, however, this relies on the function of the building which would be lost through its substantial demolition and reuse.

“The statement assesses both the existing building and the proposed office design and layout in detail and finds that the special interest of the Town Hall and the character of the conservation area will be maintained by the proposed development. Overall it is considered that the proposed redevelopment will cause less than substantial harm to the conservation area which is mitigated through the public benefits and enhancement of the civic group.” 

The showroom is operated by luxury car dealer HR Owen which is said to be relocating within the area when a lease expires at the end of the year. A spokesman for the company could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.

The new building has been designed by AEW Architects.

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