Urban Splash and Igloo chosen for Liverpool’s Festival Gardens
Liverpool City Council has selected the joint venture to lead the development of hundreds of homes on 27 acres of the Merseyside waterfront.
The Urban Splash and Igloo Regeneration JV were the victors from a shortlist that included regeneration powerhouse Muse, housebuilding giant Vistry, and CERT Property.
The joint venture’s appointment will be confirmed by the city council in September, with a legal agreement and delivery timeline to be agreed soon after.
“Festival Gardens has the potential to be one of the most exciting and transformational brownfield developments in the country – and today’s announcement is a big step towards realising that vision,” said Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region.
“This is about more than just bricks and mortar, it’s about building the kind of place that people are proud to call home,” Rotheram continued.
“We’re putting the foundations in place to create a thriving new neighbourhood that reflects the kind of future we want to build – inclusive, innovative, and with our residents in mind.”
Festival Gardens has long been flagged as one of the city’s largest development opportunities, with the council having acquired the site for £6m in 2015. At one point, it was appraised as being capable of hosting up to 1,500 homes.
The current ambitions are without a number, with the city council emphasising that the future Festival Gardens development should be a multi-generational one, with a range of house types and tenures. More than 20% of the homes built should be designated as affordable.
Cllr Nick Small, the city council’s cabinet member for housing, described the JV as “visionary” and added that its appointment was “a bold step towards delivering an amazing housing scheme befitting this stunning location.”
He continued: “These developers have a fabulous track record in delivering outstanding innovative and sustainable projects of the highest order. I can’t wait for our residents to see the details over the coming months.”
Festival Gardens is a hometown project for Urban Splash, which was founded in Liverpool in 1993. The developer was behind the 1990s Ropewalks transformation.
“Festival Gardens is truly one of Liverpool’s best sites, and it’s a huge privilege to have been selected as Liverpool’s development partner on the creation of this new riverside neighbourhood,” said Urban Splash co-founder Jonathan Falkingham.
“Partnering with Igloo, a brand that shares our values, our goal is to develop an exemplary, green place, that is accessible and sustainable for everyone, creating a lasting, vibrant community.”
Igloo is a new face to Liverpool, having made its name for projects in Newcastle, Nottingham, and Glasgow. It emphasises sustainability in its work and launched the first UN-recognised responsible real estate investment fund in 2002.
Peter Connolly, chief executive at Igloo, described the appointment as “a huge milestone” for the company.
Echoing Falkingham, he said: “Festival Gardens is one of the city’s most highly anticipated regeneration sites, and we aim to deliver a truly community-driven riverside neighbourhood that future residents and the wider community will be proud of.
“We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Urban Splash to create a unique approach for this project and believe our shared values that centre around people, place and planet will inspire inclusivity, wellbeing, and a vibrant way of life for the community.”
Igloo and Urban Splash will join an existing multi-disciplinary team dedicated to Festival Gardens. This team includes procurement expert Montagu Evans, project delivery consultant Mace, urban designer Metropolitan Workshop, and architect Shedkm.
Situated three miles south of Liverpool city centre, Festival Gardens was the subject of a £53m remediation effort, funded by the city council, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, and Homes England. Vinci was the contractor for the site enabling works, which concluded in 2023.
As part of that programme of works, the Southern Grasslands public park was completed. This sits next to the 27-acre development site that Urban Splash and Igloo will be focussed on.
Their names are not the first to be attached to developing Festival Gardens. ION Developments had initially been on board to build houses on the site, however, the city council opted to change direction in 2022 and bring a new team on board.
£53m remediation effort? I seem to remember it initially being priced at less than half that.
By More Anonymous than the others
When can we expect shovels in the ground?
By Liverpool4Progress
Igloo’s work at Helix, Newcastle, and Oakfield,Swindon, looks good. Modern designs within landscaped settings with a mix of apartments and houses.
Looking forward to seeing actual designs and better still construction workers on site.
By Anonymous
Safe and sturdy. Good shout. Will get there and nice to see someone other than Muse.
By Big Joe
One of the biggest red flags for me with this project is the remediation. As we know, this is a brownfield site that was historically used as a landfill. There will be all sorts in that ground, from household waste to rubble from the Blitz. I know they dug boreholes recently to asses it. The fact that the project hasn’t moved on in almost 10 years raises my hackles as a prospective buyer. Is the land stable? Is there risk of subsistence? Health hazards?
By Anonymous
Progress . good to see igloo and urban splash (back ) in Liverpool . We now need high end homes on this excellent site . High end homes will generate income for the council to support deprived communities and keep people with good incomes in the city to support the local economy. Plenty of good sites available for much needed affordable homes , but only a few top quality site to attract high quality homes
By George
This project has taken longer than the pyramids to build, let’s hope this isn’t another false dawn.
By Anonymous
What does ” inclusive ” mean ? Inclusive of whom and of what ? Yet more gobbledegook from the Mayor of Goobledeegook .
By Anonymous
Anonymous 12:24, you may wish to read this article on the remediation:
https://www.geplus.co.uk/features/contaminated-and-brownfield-land-remediation-of-liverpool-festival-gardens-09-12-2024/
“The project involved the excavation of more than 450,000m3 of contaminated soil and waste, with more than 95% of this material being reused or recycled.”
The report highlights the background, ground investigation, options and remediation.
By Anonymous
Will never happen.
By Anonymous
I remember looking out of the sixth form block over Festival Gardens when I was leaving school and suggestions of redevelopment started.I’m now contemplating retirement after an almost 40 year long career. Hopefully, this time it happens and they have chosen someone that can deliver and fund it.
By Glacial Drift
Both Igloo and Urban Splash have really bad legacies in both Cardiff bay and Swansea, unfinished projects once championed as huge developments. Wouldn’t trust any of them
By Cristoforo
A bold decision.
By Anonymous
Get on with it now and create new jobs in the City Region when you do the design and the build.
By Alex Hamilton
Pleased and pleasantly surprised at this – I feel the site is in trustworthy hands and should result in something exciting and high-quality.
By Mike
Positive article and development and ‘experts’ on here can’t wait to try and put a downer on it. Some very miserable people out there. 2 good firms with proven track records across the country and an amazing site. All good.
By Anonymous
Fingers crossed then for progress on Festival Gardens, meanwhile another of Liverpool’s flagship schemes, Littlewoods Film Studios, was being talked up by HatTrick Productions boss Jimmy Mulville the other day on the radio, and it sounds like a plan is coming together.
By Anonymous
We aren’t being negative, we are just being realistic. Other than one comment, no one is criticizing the choice of partners. The issue is the history of the site, with no serious plan decided after so many years since work started and work only just now about to start on another version.
The council will have to accept a loss on their investment if they want to get anything built, and they will have to accept a huge loss if they want to satisfy other non-commercial objectives. That they are still claiming 20%+ will be affordable is worrying.
Urban Splash and Igloo will work on this for a while, the commercial realities will be presented to the council, and then the can will be kicked further down the road yet again.
By Mr Anon