In 2001 GMPTE commissioned a new “category 1” station for Middleton Town Centre, the highest standard of bus station in the country. The £4.2m station, designed by 'Jefferson Sheard', was to include improvements to access/egress, safer pedestrian movement and remodelling of the site layout to make better use of available space. Facilities provided at the new station were to include a walk in travel shop, public toilets, bus station supervisor’s office and a retail outlet.

Bethel Construction have now completed the work commissioned by GMPTE for the construction of new canopies within Lever Street and Queens Passage, which provide shelter between the Bus Station and the nearby Shopping centre. The canopies proposed by Strazla Architects were constructed in structural steelwork and consist of a series of frames consisting of a single stanchion supporting asymmetrical curved and tapered cantilevering rafters, which in turn support CHS purlins and lightweight cladding, incorporating roof lights. Work on the project progressed well despite challenging structural difficulties posed by the large number of known and unknown services within the footway and limited working space.