Supporting our communities to thrive through social value at Stockport Interchange

Opened by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham in March, Stockport Interchange has delivered a new state-of-the-art transport interchange, town centre park and 196 residential apartments for Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Stockport Council.

It is one of the biggest single projects outside of London and a key part of Stockport's £1 billion town centre regeneration, creating a new gateway to the town and seamless connectivity for local transport services; a two acre public park called ‘Viaduct Park’; and much-needed new homes in the same year Stockport was named one of the best places to live in the North West by the Sunday Times.

That’s not all. Stockport Interchange has created a legacy of community investment, skills and opportunities.

Stockport Interchange community impact in numbers:

• 175 new jobs created

• 58% local spend within 20 miles

• 3000+ connections made with young people

• 103 work experience placements

• 1675 apprentice weeks delivered

• Overall social return on investment 32%

As we approach the end of the year in which the Interchange has been recognised with international and regional awards. To delve deeper into the impact it has made, we sat down with assistant social value manager, Becky Larner, who spearheaded four years of social value on the project.

Becky, alongside our customer TfGM and Stockport Council, what difference did we set out to achieve for the people of Stockport?

Creating skills and employment opportunities for those who need it most was a key focus for our customer TfGM and Stockport Council and is something that closely aligns to our own vision of supporting the communities in which we work.

Our 2030 Social Value Strategy focuses on the challenge of building a fairer society for all as well as ensuring we support the people and businesses in our communities to thrive. These are problems that no single organisation can tackle alone. So, I cannot stress enough what an incredible team effort social value has been in Stockport between ourselves, TfGM, Stockport Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Stockport MDC, CityHeart and all our incredible supply chain partners.

Four years later, what are your proudest memories?

I have so many proud moments and fond memories of the work we’ve delivered in Stockport – I don’t know where to begin! I have to start with creating 175 new jobs for local people including roles within; administration, landscaping, mechanical, engineering, steelwork and social value.

I genuinely enjoyed delivering 109 careers, advice and guidance sessions with schools and colleges across Stockport and working with specialist educational organisations Pure College and the Seashell Trust was particularly rewarding.

In total we delivered four of our bespoke Building Lives Academy programmes which resulted in seven employment opportunities for Stockport people facing barriers to employment and education.

We worked with some amazing young people, one of whom was Max, a Stockport based care leaver who took part in our first Building Lives Academy. Alongside four other participants, Max secured employment and went on to work for our supply chain partner Mayo Civils on the project.

Two cohorts of SEND students from Pure College took part in our Building Lives Academy programme, where we provided a practical programme, mentoring, work experience and guidance to develop their confidence, skills and education. The students had a fantastic experience, which you can see below.

Working alongside Stockport School, we ran a Workplace Safari for 21 of their students where they joined us on site to gain an understanding of the world of work, variety of careers in our industry and were able to get stuck in and participate in some of the daily activities around the site. They even met Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham!

It’s been a real privilege to work with so many young people across Stockport! We’ve supported 1,675 weeks of apprenticeships, 103 work experience placements and connected with over 3,000 young people.

As part of our school and college engagement, we partnered with Stockport College to work with their apprentice’s and T-Level students. We worked with both Alex and Aidan, who have continued their journey with us after Stockport Interchange.

Alex joined us as a business administration apprentice and T-Level student Aidan joined us for a nine-week work placement on site. Both made a real impression and Aidan has now joined Alex on our apprenticeship programme with both on site working on our £65m Greenheys project in Manchester.

We were thrilled that our work with Stockport College saw us awarded with an Industry Placement of the Year Award for our engagement with their students throughout the Stockport Interchange project.

I joined Aidan to discuss our work with Stockport College and their T-Level students in more detail.

There are so many fantastic community charities and organisations in Stockport. How rewarding and impactful has it been to build those relationships and support their great work?

Throughout the project, we built some fantastic relationships with local organisations, community groups and charities which I’m delighted to say will stay with us as we continue our work in and around Stockport.

Our team spent over 600 hours supporting the local community, and it’s been incredibly hard to narrow it down to a few highlights, but I had to choose a handful!

In partnership with Stockport Homes and Stockport Council, we supported Webb Lane Community Allotments with the construction of a disabled toilet and workspace worth £12,000. The team at Webb Lane had a dream for their community allotment to be a truly inclusive space for all. Thanks to the work that we and our supply chain have delivered, that is exactly what it has become!

Webb Lane offers a space for the community to come together for events as well as using their allotment facilities, but they were lacking space and shelter from the winter weather and a working toilet. With the help of our supply chain partners, we delivered works that will enable disabled visitors to use the site and also make Webb Lane the only allotment in Stockport to have a flushing toilet!

The Webb Lane community now benefits from two mental health professionals who use the site for social prescribing as well as two local schools who now visit the allotments on a weekly basis. This Christmas, there will be the annual meet santa event where over 150 families will attend!

Working with the Stockport Samaritans and their neighbouring charity Signpost For Carers, we helped to renovate their shared kitchen space enabling them to better care for their unpaid volunteers who help the charity to offer support throughout Stockport. We also took part in the Samaritans ‘Brew Monday’ campaign by joining the team out at Stockport Train Station to hand out leaflets and teabags to Stockport commuters.

Getting involved to support homeless charity The Wellspring was something we were really keen to do, and our people got behind their ‘Big Sleep Out’ initiative, coming together to raise £3,000 by spending the night in the grounds of St Mary’s Church without a roof over their heads. The Wellspring supports the people of Stockport that are homeless and although our one night sleeping outside in no way gives a full understanding of what it’s really like to be homeless, the Big Sleepout did offer our team the opportunity to consider how difficult those challenges are.

I’m also extremely proud that we worked with local charity Cracking Good Food to renovate their gardens so they could continue to provide local produce for Stockport residents, as well as collecting hundreds of pounds worth of kitchenware so that local people facing barriers could cook their own food.

We’re proud to be continuing our work in Stockport, supporting Cheadle College’s campus redevelopment and the Community Hub in Marple for Stockport Council. What does the future of our commitment to Building Lives in Stockport look like?

Our work in Stockport certainly hasn’t finished and we’re absolutely still working closely with residents, charities and organisations across Stockport, including at Cheadle College, where we’re building a new campus for the Trafford and Stockport College Group. So far, we’ve engaged with 800 Stockport students, delivered 30 weeks of T-Level placements and created three apprenticeships with more to come in 2025.

I’m proud to say that building on our relationship with The Wellspring, we’re continuing to support homeless people seeking to access the most basic of needs, including supporting with food, clothing and shelter.

We’re already working alongside the One Stockport Construction Hub to support its key outcomes of creating employment opportunities and engaging with different groups across the borough to break down barriers to employment across the construction industry. We’re also in discussions with several Stockport community stakeholders about how we can help local residents who are being impacted by the current cost of living.