Stone developers Luke Clarke and Dave Vickers talk to A Little Bit of Stone about the local effort that’s gone into transforming Stone’s former Radford Street Stone Police Station into a quality town centre residential development.
On a hot August morning, I had the absolute pleasure of heading up to the north end of town to see the redevelopment of the former Stone Police Station on Radford Street and to learn more about the team behind it.
For some background, as part of the restructure of Staffordshire Police, a number of police stations were closed as certain functions moved centrally or to more strategic locations. Following the closures, Staffordshire Police put a number of the former buildings up for sale, and Stone’s was one such station.
The Stone duo worked in partnership (Luke from CCP Developments and Dave from Clickers Construction) on the project to convert the former main police station and stables (which in later life provided garage services for police vehicles) into high-end, centrally located, quality apartments.
As I walked down from the Northesk Street entrance, the first thing that struck me was the size of the former police site.
To the left of the site is the newly completed Police Station development, which includes the former police station, as well as a standalone detached property at the rear, which was the former stables.
Centrally and to the right of the site are the former police station car park and the old rubble Northesk Street car park – these will form part of a second phase on the site – more on that later.
A beautifully laid-out block paving driveway leads to the rear of the development with parking for the residents, and it was in a welcome shady spot that I met Luke and Dave.
This was my first time meeting Luke and Dave, a pair of Stone-born and-bred guys whose love for the town was immediately obvious. They were both full of stories of growing up in the town, seeing how the town has developed in their lifetimes and many mentions of the various characters they’ve come across.
With the development fully sold, I was keen to learn more about the journey the team had been on and the reactions they’d received.
Dave, who you may know from award-winning Vickers Plant, began to explain to me how much of a “Stone” development it has been, telling me:
“We are a Stone-based business, and as such, we always try to bring in Stone workers and trades to work on the project. We must have had around 20 Stone-based people working on this project, and that’s something we are really proud of.
We aren’t some large out-of-town developers; we understand the local community, the historical context of what we’re doing, and how to be good neighbours.”
Luke added:
“Being a good neighbour is very important to us. Whenever we start a job, and whilst we are working, we try and talk to the people around us. We want to reassure them of our plans, and we work with them where we can to forge good community relationships.
In such a small town as Stone, if you go crashing in without a care in the world, word will get around, and people will be hesitant to use your services when they need an extension or loft conversion.”
The team showed me around the plots on the development, and it was evident that they’d taken pride in creating a sympathetic re-development of the site.
The former “POLICE” sign, which was above the entrance door (now converted to a window), has been repainted and sits proudly on the beautifully restored facade of the building.
Luke told us:
“The reaction to the development has been, on the whole, very positive. Passers-by have often asked to pop in and see what’s going on, and former workers from the police station have taken a particular interest in what we are doing.
Everyone who has been in has loved the work that we’ve done, and we are proud to have created something that we hope will stand for many generations to come.”
Adding to Luke’s comments, Dave added:
“We’ve stuck with the Poice blue throughout the development. A nod to the history of the building but giving it a fresh and smart look that doesn’t look out of place.
Where possible, we’ve retained the existing sash windows, refurbishing them and upgrading them. It was important to retain the character of the building and have something that sits well within its surroundings.”
With Phase One complete, it was now time to hear about the plans for Phase Two. The team have listened to feedback that was submitted with their initial phase two plans, and in place of the initially proposed apartment development, the team will be putting a mix of townhouses and a detached dwelling on the site.
In keeping with the ethos of being a good neighbour and building positive community relationships, Clickers Construction and CCP Developments are hosting a public community fun day on the Phase two site. Members of the public are invited to come down to see what’s been going on with phase one, see the phase two plans and provide any in-person feedback directly to the team.
The fun day is all set for Saturday, 17th September, from 10:30am to 4:00pm.
There’ll be lots of fun things for all the family to do, including:
- Vickers Plant “digger challenge”
- Bouncy castle
- Raffle
- Cake stall
- Police car
- Ice cream man
- Free Merchandise
- Food and refreshments by “Gills of Stone”, who are also hosting a “Make your own family pie class”
As well as being a fun day, the team have chosen to raise funds for Stone-based charity AED Donate to place a publicly accessible defibrillator on the site. https://www.aeddonate.org.uk/projects/stone-police/
Clickers Construction, in partnership with CCP Developments, has announced its sponsorship/partnership with Stone Rugby Club. There will be representatives from the club there on the open day to receive the official sponsorship.
