How ‘Stockport’s ugliest building’ was completely transformed

The transformation of a building once dubbed Stockport’s ugliest has been completed with the opening of a new college for disabled adults.

Now known as The Mailbox, the four-storey building on A6 Wellington Road South between the junctions with Station Road and Exchange Street, was, for nearly 40 years, the town’s Royal Mail sorting office.

When it was built in the 1970s, it was given extra reinforcement due to the risk of IRA letter bombs. The sorting office closed and moved sites in 2010, from when the building was vacant for nearly a decade.

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What was an iconic landmark then became an eyesore and was even described as the town’s ‘ugliest building’ by the boss of the firm who began its redevelopment in 2019.

It has now been completely overhauled and become a key part of the £1 billion redevelopment of Stockport town centre, which has been labeled as ‘the region’s ‘coolest, greenest, new urban village.’

The state-of-the-art development is now home to 117 ‘stunning’ new one and two-bedroom apartments and 12,500 square feet of commercial space. There is an atrium at its heart a roof terrace with views across the town centre..

It also has an 18-metre high green ‘living wall’ covering the front and other parts of the exterior, which with 114,500 plants is the largest of its kind by surface area in the North of England.

There is also a co-working space and the final piece of the development has now been completed, a college for disabled young people embarking on their journey into adulthood.

What was once a furniture showroom has been repurposed into a specially designed facility for Pure College. The college, for disabled young people embarking on their journey into adulthood, opened last year and quickly outgrew its previous space.

Its new home features three large classrooms, office space, a staff room, an expansive and sociable kitchen area as well as other informal seating and communal areas, plus toilets.

Nigel Rawlings, CEO at Rise Homes, who gave the building its previous ‘ugliest’ tag, said: “The Mailbox is predominantly residential comprising 117 spacious and high-quality apartments, all held for rent, but we also created 18 contemporary offices which are substantially occupied by an eclectic mix of occupiers.

“Pure College benefitted from one classroom last year and we are delighted that they decided to expand and now have three class rooms along with very attractive breakout and administration space.

“All our developments feature green initiatives – often renewable heating – but we focused on the external appearance for The Mailbox although the extensive artwork internally represents a history of the mail service in the UK.”

All the college’s attendees have neurodiverse needs and a specialist neurodiverse design team at Select Interiors (Cheshire) Ltd worked on the design and fitting of their space.

Pale blue and green were chosen for the colour scheme as they are known to be calming and restful. The lighting mimics daylight without too much blue light as neurodiversity can result in sensitivity to certain types of light.

Soft and calming lighting was used in the communal areas to offer a chance to wind down from the stimulation in the classrooms themselves.

Select Interiors also completed the coworking space upstairs. The two-storey offce features 17 separate office units with a shared boardroom, kitchen and lockers. The design was inspired by a ziggurat, an ancient, terraced structure with receding storeys or levels.

Additional office space was incorporated by taking advantage of the ceiling height and adding in a mezzanine level, which joined the existing level via a bridge with standout zebra crossing-style graphics.

The look is softened with plenty of greenery, which aims to mimic the enormous plant wall on the exterior of the building.

Kaylie Crompton, head of Pure College, said: “Our new building can better accommodate the needs of our growing cohort. We have moved into a beautiful space that has been perfectly designed to consider the day-to-day working needs of both staff and students.

“Students have really engaged well with the new College; particularly the shared spaces, which have promoted social interaction and communication between all the classes.

“The Select Interiors (Cheshire) designers really captured our vision of preparing students for the world of work and the College feels very professional.

“The copious storage spaces allow us to provide a clutter-free environment which is very important for Autistic people to be able to engage effectively in their learning.

Designers took the time to listen to and understand how our students best learn and allowed plenty of space for downtime.”

Carl Brown, owner of Select Interiors said:: “Working on the Mailbox has been a joy for us as it’s an iconic landmark in Stockport that was once an eyesore and now is a great space for residents, workers and college goers.

“Neurodiversity is something that’s very close to my heart and it was an honour to be able to design the Pure College space and make it functional on a number of different levels.”

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