If you’ve driven through Stockport on the M60 , chances are you’ve noticed the huge new Redrock development.

It’s pretty hard to miss.

Now it’s up for an award nobody wants.

The sprawling complex has been dubbed 'an unrepentant relic of yesteryear'.

Business Design magazine has placed the £45m leisure centre on its shortlist for The Carbuncle Cup.

(Image: UGC)

Redrock’s bright red multi-storey car park and patchwork cladding have split opinion.

But the striking design ensures any commuters lost on the motorway always have a guiding light towards food, blockbuster movies and reasonably-priced parking.

The annual gong is dished out in a bid to pinpoint ‘Britain’s worst building completed in the past 12 months’.

And this year the council’s £45m scheme, in Stockport town centre, has made a shortlist of five from across the country, including 69 Highgate in Camden, Haydn Tower in Vauxhall, Lewisham Gateway and the Iron Foundry in Bristol.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

“Of late, leisure centres have undergone something of a renaissance,” a spokesman for Business Design Business Design said.

“No more the ugly, garish out-of-town container sheds that once encircled British towns and cities and served as the butt of suburban jokes for a generation of disparaging metropolitan elites.

“Now, leisure centres are frequently subsumed within shopping centres with genuine architectural ambition, as evident at schemes like Victoria Gate in Leeds, Arc Bury St Edmunds and, to a degree, the two mighty Westfield shopping centres that signpost east and west London.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

“But every now and then an unrepentant relic of yesteryear slips through the net. And one of the biggest and most recent of this unhappy breed is £45m Redrock Stockport just south of Manchester.

“Redrock contains all of the obligatory consumerist paraphernalia one would expect of a town centre leisure complex. Ten-screen cinema, restaurants, bars, retail and a 340 space multi-storey car park across 75,000ft² of space.”

Greater Manchester’s previous contribution to The Carbuncle Cup came in 2015. Back then the controversial Library Walk structure was nominated for the prize, narrowly missing out to London’s so-called ‘Walkie Talkie’ building.

The award began in 2006 and last year’s ‘winner’ was Nova Victoria, an office and residential building in London.

(Image: Manchester evening news)

The winner of the 2018 award, which takes its name from a Prince Charles description of a proposed extension to the National Gallery in London, will be announced later this year.

Councillors say Redrock, which has a 10-screen cinema, restaurants, a bar, gym, large car park and public open space, will transform Stockport town centre.

Councillor Kate Butler, cabinet member for regeneration, said: “Redrock is a fantastic addition to Stockport, complete with smart new tree lined streets and public squares for everyone to enjoy,

(Image: Manchester evening news)

“Redrock has improved the Bridgefield Street area beyond recognition.

“A once sprawling car park has been replaced with an extremely popular leisure destination.

“What is indisputable is the huge success of Redrock. Since it opened just eight months ago visitor numbers have already exceeded those originally expected in a year.”