I have never been to Stockport; or if I have, I missed it on my way to Manchester. And if I don’t go soon, it will have disappeared by way of a £1bn transformation of the town centre and oodles more millions on thousands of new homes all around. It is 130 acres of development. It needs folk such as John Sisk & Son (Sisk) to cope with the odds.

Capital & Centric (Rose) Ltd (Capital) is developing £60m-worth at the Weir Mill district of the town with Sisk as the main contractor. Some of the buildings being converted go back to the 1700s, and Sisk spotted a snag. Mind you, so did Capital. This led to an adjudication, then the High Court. Not good for public relations.

Weir Mill is all about age-old satanic mills. Some decrepit. The idea in this part of the resurrection of Stockport is to restore the mill buildings and erect two new-build blocks to give 250 “design-led” apartments. Sisk is ideal for this sort of adventure.

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