£10m grant sets wheels in motion at Cowley Hill
Site promoters BXB Land Solutions and Promenade Estates have signed an agreement with the combined authority and St Helens Council that paves the way for 1,100 homes and 200,000 sq ft of employment space.
The legal agreement provides for active travel infrastructure, and comes from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, a pot of £710m set aside for projects across the Liverpool City Region.
The Cowley Hill site was formerly part of the Pilkington complex, one of the glassmaking town’s largest operations. The western part of Cowley Hill Works has been retained by Pilkington and remains in operation.
A new road funded by BXB will run from north to south through the site, from Washway Lane to College Street, a project that includes junction improvements at each end that will support new active travel routes to serve the development and the nearby town centre.
“We’re delighted to have arrived at this point and couldn’t have got here without a genuine partnership with both the Combined Authority and St Helens Council,” said Gary Goodman, land and planning director at BXB.
“We can now bring forward the site in its entirety, unlocking a range of new homes and employment opportunities for local people whilst improving connectivity with the town centre to the south.”
The first phase of the site, capable of accommodating 200 homes, was sold to affordable homes provider Torus early last year. The transport grant allows the remainder of the site to be brought forward with confidence, said Goodman.
Site investigation work will begin next month as a precursor to full construction, with the main contractor expected to be appointed later this spring.
Cllr Richard McCauley, cabinet member for inclusive growth & regeneration at St Helens Council, said: “This marks the beginning of a partnership project that will not only provide much-needed high quality new homes to the Cowley Hill area on brownfield land, overcoming significant and complex viability challenges, but also bring valuable employment opportunities to the area.
“The new spine road will significantly improve connectivity to St Helens town centre – which is undergoing exciting transformation as part of our regeneration plans – for all aspects of transport, whether you drive, cycle, walk or wheel, benefiting both the local community, visitors and local economy alike.”
As part of St Helens and development partner ECF’s £100m regeneration programme in the town, contractor VINCI has now lodged plans for an upgraded bus station.
Steve Foulkes, chair of the transport committee at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority said that improvements in public transport and in active travel infrastructure play into the agenda to give people alternatives to car use as the city region looks to achieve net zero.
He said: “The Combined Authority are committed to encouraging and supporting active travel as part of Mayor Rotheram’s mission to build the world class transport system the Liverpool City Region deserves.
“The £10m being committed to this new scheme comes on top of the more than £100m in total funding to upgrade walking and cycling routes across our region.
“The aim is to link communities, joining up new and existing developments – like the one at Cowley Hill Works – and provide access to areas and opportunities that were previously out of reach.”
Cowley Hill is one of the largest brownfield land allocations in the St Helens Local Plan and its remediation fits with Promenade Estates’ ‘brownfield first’ strategy, says the firm’s managing director, Dan Hynd:
“With the right technical approach and a genuine partnership with the public sector we can unlock more former industrial sites to help meet the nation’s housing needs. Alongside BXB and our advisors, our technical expertise can address constrained sites and bring life and spending power back into our towns and cities.”
The masterplan for the site was devised by architect Brock Carmichael, with CPC appointed as project manager and Nexus advising on planning.
Gardiner & Theobald is the scheme’s cost consultant, with Curtins the structural and civil engineer. DB Remediation is undertaking the physical remediation works.
House’s are good but where’s the school. Where is the doctors surgery
By John. Green
Exactly. Seems a bit of an isolated site some distance from basic amenities.
By Anonymous