The developer plans to breathe new life into the derelict town centre site with a 254 flats scheme, with 87 within the existing mill buildings and 167 in the two new buildings.

There will be 24,000 sq ft of commercial space including the West Shed, which will become a new indoor space with exposed brick, vaulted arches and sky lights.

Alongside new homes, places for local businesses to locate and open public areas for events and pop-ups are planned.

Tim Heatley, co-founder of Capital & Centric said: “This is the future of our town centres. Dynamic and progressive towns like Stockport will be full of residents rather than shops.

“Projects like this take pressure off the green belt whilst breathing new life into historic structures. Our post-Covid recovery will be led from outside the city centre and community will be at the heart of it.

“By creating super energy efficient and beautiful buildings, of a quality usually only seen in the city centre, we can raise the bar and others will follow. Weir Mill is the first of many huge investments we are making in towns throughout the Midlands and the North.

“The cities have got it coming so they’ll all need to raise their game.”

Located alongside the town’s iconic viaduct, Weir Mill started off life as a water powered cotton works in the late 18^th century, with the original water wheelhouse and parts of the mill buildings are still standing today.

The Weir Mill scheme is part of the £1bn town centre regeneration plans being delivered by Stockport’s Mayoral Development Corporation and is one of the first projects to come forward in the new Town Centre West regeneration zone, which will deliver 3,500 new homes and amenities, 1m square feet of employment, retail, leisure, health and education space, and create over 5,000 new jobs.