Eric Wright completes £23m Pioneer Place

Fit-out has now begun at Maple Grove Developments’ town centre leisure scheme in Burnley, with tenants eyeing late summer openings.

Eric Wright Construction has handed over Pioneer Place, 18 months after work started on the mixed-use project on the former Pioneer Co-op site off Curzon Street.

Designed by AEW Architects, the scheme is anchored by a seven-screen REEL Cinema, created alongside a total of 12,750 sq ft of leisure and retail space across five units.

Already confirmed tenants include Loungers, Nando’s, and Starbucks.

Visitors will also have access to a 226-space car park.

Plans for Pioneer Place were first approved in January 2021. These initial proposals were larger, calling for an eight-screen REEL Cinema and nine retail and leisure units.

However, plans were scaled back later that month as a result of market changes brought about by the pandemic. These updated proposals were later approved in March 2021.

Jeremy Hartley, managing director of Eric Wright Group, said: “Pioneer Place is a significant regeneration project, which will benefit the people of Burnley and the wider Lancashire area…

“This is one of a multitude of placemaking town centre schemes we as a business have been involved in across Lancashire”, he continued. “The leisure and retail sector has experienced a huge amount of change over the last few years and I couldn’t be more proud of the way in which our teams have worked so collaboratively to ensure that these projects were delivered.”

Delivered in partnership with Burnley Council, the local authority is part-funding the £23m project with £3.2m grant support from Lancashire County Council.

In November, fashion retailer Boohoo, Burnley’s largest employer, also agreed to contribute £300,000 towards the project to help the council and Maple Grove overcome the increased costs of the project.

Lancashire Enterprise Partnership has also provided £3.7m from the government’s Getting Building Fund.

Smith & Love is the scheme’s planning consultant. Booth King Partnership is the structural engineer.

To find out more about the project, search for application number FUL/2021/0029 on Burnley Council’s planning portal.