Spotlight on Stockport: Transformative new cultural and creative hub Stockroom by SpaceInvader.

SpaceInvader has completed the interior design of Stockroom, a transformative £14.5m cultural and creative hub in the heart of Stockport.

It was a key talking point at our recent Greater Manchester Property Outlook roundtable, where SpaceInvader founder/director, John Williams, and AEW director, Phil Hepworth were guests. And now having opened its doors it has been brilliantly received by the local community and beyond.

Commissioned by Stockport Council and funded through the Future High Streets Fund, the 30,537sq ft project reimagines a series of previously underused retail units as a dynamic and inclusive new creative hub, designed for learning, creativity, and community connection.

Housed within Stockport’s Merseyway Shopping Centre, Stockroom has been transformed into a vibrant new venue that blends learning, culture, performance and play. It includes a modern library, children’s creative play and learning space, Stockport’s historical archives, a café bar, Stockroom Studios, and welcoming spaces to relax and connect. It’s designed to be an inclusive, accessible place where everyone can come together.

The project seeks to strengthen the town’s high street economy and ecosystem by increasing footfall, supporting surrounding businesses, and encouraging social use beyond the traditional retail model, attracting people who may not have come into the surrounding area otherwise. The brief to SpaceInvader was to deliver an interior for the ambitious project that would serve as both a local anchor and a catalyst for regeneration.

“The Stockroom project reflects our ongoing belief that interior design has a vital role to play in town centre transformation. By moving away from a traditional, retail-only high street model, councils like Stockport are creating places that serve people in more meaningful and lasting ways”, commented John Williams, founder / director of SpaceInvader.

Also involved in the project were brand strategists Boardroom Consulting and branding designers Studio DBD, whose Stockroom identity and graphic design, which also involved a community-based call-out for doodles and ideas of what people wanted to see in the space as part of its process, added a strong feeling of welcome and inclusivity, helping to create a place where the town’s citizens can all see themselves and find a way to interact with the space. This is epitomised by Stockroom’s logo device, which can open up with different-length gaps between the two ‘Os’ of ‘Room’ – representing the project’s open ethos, with room for everyone.

The bold and distinctive colours and shapes of the branding also fed into the interior look and feel, integrated both into the décor and SpaceInvader’s furniture approach. The interior design treatment also reflects the town’s heritage and surrounding spaces – seen in, for example, the red brick that commonly features in the town’s housing stock now used for the counter treatment of the new café space. The blending of the town’s fringes into the countryside also led to the introduction of natural colours alongside the urban inspiration of the terracotta, with the latter additionally also used as the colourway for the porcelain tiles in the ‘Addlington Walk’ walkway area of the scheme.

In terms of materiality, the guiding directives were for furniture and fittings to prioritise comfort, friendliness and a homely feel, encouraging users to feel at ease the moment they enter the space. For the design team, this meant an approach that combined a domestic aesthetic, though with commercial levels of robustness, whilst seeking out sustainable credentials on timber and furniture choices, with the timber used an FSC pale oak, whilst stand-out sustainable materials feature the use of recycled plastics.

“Mindful-but-effective specifying was key”, SpaceInvader studio operations director, Sarah Dabbs, commented. “We were very aware that this was the public budget. Some of the spend went on necessary and enabling technical features, such as acoustic products, whilst the chosen furniture and bespoke joinery display a bright-and-cheerful approach, with usability and comfort to the fore.”

SpaceInvader also worked with frequent architectural collaborators AEW on the building fabric, with a complex series of challenges needing to be solved when it came to the project’s M&E. The interior architecture features a stripped-back aesthetic, revealing the workings of the shopping centre. The interior also celebrates the town’s character and everything that Stockport is – honest, direct and down-to-earth. Local input also came in the form of murals, painted directly onto the wall by Mike Sian Studio.

The new space at Stockroom provides a modern, welcoming and accessible additional town centre library that meets the needs of the entire community, while also celebrating Stockport’s character and creative future. It includes a reference library and lending library on the first floor, as well as the eye-catching ground floor children’s library.

The extension of the library space to contain an exhibition area was also part of the brief, so that objects from the town’s gallery and museum collections are able to be shown here in small-scale curations. The town has a large, centralised collection of assets, accrued over many years and belonging to the whole community. As well as being shown in museums and galleries in Stockport, an archive area allows for a calendar of curations and events to take place in Stockroom, making the collections as accessible as possible. Event and studio spaces on the first floor allow for further community involvement and activity, as well as providing a revenue stream in the case of corporate hire.

The new café and servery space, run by local operator Mercado, offers healthy snacks at accessible prices and is located at a pivot point at the centre of the space at the bottom of the stair to the first-floor area. It is visible and accessible to all, encouraging awareness of the other library spaces above.

Stockroom now offers a 21st Century alternative that encourages participation and discovery. The new environment supports everything from quiet study and toddler play to exhibitions, performances, workshops and cultural events. From large-scale public installations to intimate learning spaces, each interior zone was carefully designed to be engaging, inclusive, and adaptable, supporting a dynamic programme of cultural activity and community use.

“SpaceInvader’s thoughtful and inclusive approach has helped create a truly welcoming, accessible and inspiring environment for everyone. Their work has been key in creating a space that reflects Stockport’s identity and brings our communities together through culture, creativity and learning” Cllr Dan Oliver, cabinet member for communities and culture at Stockport Council commented.

The design has delivered a number of strategic benefits to Stockport Council. By revitalising a disused retail unit, the project has helped maximise the use of existing real estate while contributing to the long-term resilience of the town centre. Stockroom increases footfall, boosts the local economy, and supports surrounding businesses - all essential outcomes for a council focused on high street regeneration.

It’s also a strong example of how design-led regeneration can fulfil the goals of national funding initiatives such as the Future High Streets Fund, delivering measurable improvements in accessibility, cultural provision, and economic activity.

The welcoming design encourages community engagement and invites participation from all age groups and backgrounds.

“We’re proud to have contributed to a project that not only elevates Stockport’s physical environment but also strengthens its civic and cultural fabric. Stockroom is a space designed with, by and for its community and we’re looking forward to seeing how it continues to evolve”, added SpaceInvader founder / director John Williams.