IN Brief:
- Graham has been selected to deliver the £60m Plot 2A residential phase at Stretford Mall.
- The scheme will provide 249 build-to-rent apartments and ground-floor commercial space within Trafford’s town centre regeneration plan.
- The award gives Graham an early role in a wider redevelopment pipeline, with further plots still to be procured.
Graham has been selected to deliver the £60m first major build-to-rent phase of the Stretford Mall redevelopment in Trafford, Greater Manchester.
The contractor has been chosen by the Bruntwood–Trafford joint venture for Plot 2A, a residential-led phase that will provide 249 apartments and around 200 sq m of ground-floor commercial space. The scheme forms part of the wider town centre regeneration programme.
Graham is expected to begin under a pre-construction services agreement, allowing the project team to finalise design, cost, and delivery planning before moving into a full build contract. Domis, GMI, and HG Construction were also in contention for the first phase.
The project will involve demolition of part of the existing 1960s shopping centre to make way for a 10-storey residential block arranged around a landscaped courtyard. The design, by AHR Architects, sits within a broader redevelopment plan expected to deliver around 800 homes, public realm, and new retail space.
Construction is expected to take just over three years once the main contract is signed, with completion targeted for 2029. The £60m award also gives Graham a foothold on a wider pipeline of work valued at around £175m, with Plot 2B and Plot 1 still to be procured.
The Stretford scheme follows a wider shift in town centre development, where ageing retail assets are being reworked into mixed-use districts with housing, commercial space, and improved public realm. Shopping centres built around a declining retail model are increasingly being partially demolished, repurposed, or opened up to support more varied local uses.
Projects of this type bring construction challenges beyond the residential block itself. Existing structures, live town centre interfaces, demolition sequencing, utilities diversions, retail continuity, and public access constraints all shape the programme. Early contractor involvement allows those risks to be tested before the main contract is finalised.
The build-to-rent element also shows continued confidence in professionally managed rental housing as part of regeneration-led development. Residential viability remains exposed to interest rates, build costs, and planning delays, but rental-led schemes in established urban centres continue to attract investment where long-term demand is clear.
Work has already taken place on King Street, where part of the mall roof was removed and retail units were refurbished to create a reworked high street environment. Plot 2A moves the redevelopment into a more substantial residential construction phase and will become one of the scheme’s major built anchors.
The award gives Graham a prominent role in a long-running Greater Manchester regeneration programme. It also shows how suburban town centres are being reshaped through housing density, public realm investment, and selective retail replacement rather than full-scale retail renewal.
