Castle Green buys Daresbury site for more than £25m

Previous owner Marshall CDP had already secured outline consent for 305 homes on the parcel of land off Red Brow Lane.

B8 Real Estate acted for Castle Green Homes on the 43-acre deal, which was more than the £25m asking price. Marshall represented itself.

B8 Real Estate partner Jon Thorne said: “We are delighted to have completed this acquisition for Castle Green on a site that is very close to our own headquarters on the Daresbury office park.

“The deal demonstrates our ability to unlock opportunities not only in the industrial sector, but also strategic development sites linked to our core industrial advisory work. We look forward to seeing the scheme progress.”

Proposed layout for the Castle Green neighbourhood in Daresbury. Credit: via planning documents

Castle Green submitted a reserved matters application for the site earlier this year, aiming to build 108 houses on a 13.6-acre portion of the land. This first phase would sit on the southern edge of the 43-acres acquired. It is bounded by Bridgewater Canal to the west, Daresbury Business Park to the east and Red Brow Lane to the north.

The St Asaph-based homebuilder is aiming to construct 20 two-bed terrace and 26 three-bed terrace houses on the site. Of these 46 terrace dwellings, 27 would be designated affordable.

Plans also include six three-bed semi-detached houses and 32 three-bed detached ones. There would also be 24 four-bed detached homes.

If Halton Council approves the application, then work is set to begin later this year on building the homes. Castle Green estimates the project will take seven years to complete.

Avison Young is the planning consultant for the Red Brow Lane scheme. Curtins is the transport consultant and Ascerta leads on landscape, arboricultural and ecological needs. MicroDrainage is the drainage consultant, E3p is the noise consultant and Orion is the archaeological consultant. Betts Geo provided geotechnical analysis.

The application’s reference number with Halton Council is 22/00034/REM.

Castle Green is on track to quadruple its business by 2025, building 280 homes in the year ending March 31. That number was up by nearly a third from the previous year.