Enabling work at 104-acre St Helens site to begin 

The joint venture between brownfield land specialist BXB and Promenade Estates will start the remediation of Pilkington’s former Cowley Hill glassworks early next year. 

The JV began looking for a buyer for the site having secured planning permission for up to 1,100 homes, a 100-bedroom hotel, and 43,000 sq ft of commercial space off College Street in 2021. 

The partners had previously planned to sell the site with a certified technical solution for the delivery of a development platform, with the cost of this remediation deducted from the final sale price.  

However, while discussions with interested parties remain ongoing, the plan has now changed. 

A spokesperson for BXB said: “We have the skills in-house to manage the process and, having already led on the whole technical strategy, putting it into place will be straightforward. 

“We can offer additional certainty to the market and control the pace and quality of delivery.” 

So far, BXB Cowley Hill has invested more than £3m in obtaining planning permission, carrying out technical work, and securing critical power infrastructure for the site through an electrical substation. 

Daniel Hynd, managing director of Promenade Estates, said: “The site brings back into productive use vacant land that will have a massive positive contribution to the local economy of St Helens. 

“It is part of our brownfield first strategy and taking control of a key element of its delivery enables us to control quality whilst also sustaining momentum in the site’s delivery.” 

Cowley Hill Works is one of the largest brownfield allocations within St Helens’ recently-adopted local plan. 

The redevelopment of the site is expected to generate capital expenditure of £200m.  

BXB and Promenade intend to retain the commercial element of the consent, which will be delivered once the housing site has been remediated and sold to a volume housebuilder.