Fresh vision for Wirral Waters in the works 15 years after initial approval
Swapping out more than 2,000 homes and a tall building cluster for 460,000 sq ft of storage space at East Float Docks is the first of many changes expected in a revised strategy for the redevelopment of 500 acres of Birkenhead’s dockland by Peel Waters.
Peel Ports has taken control of the East Float Terminal and is planning to invest £10m to deliver 300,000 sq ft of indoor storage space and 160,000 sq ft of outdoor space.
This marks a significant change of course for this section of Wirral Waters; the site was previously earmarked for high-density residential schemes branded Sky City and Vittoria Studios.
Sky City promised a tall building cluster – including an ambition for a striking glass tower – while Vittoria Studios was a plan for 1,800 homes across six blocks ranging from six to 15 storeys. However, this part of the overarching strategy will look very different under the revised Wirral Waters vision.
Peel Ports is planning 460,000 sq ft of modern storage space at East Float Docks. Credit: via Big Partnership
Peel’s decision to take another look at how Wirral Waters will be delivered comes 15 years after plans for the project were first approved.
To date Peel Waters has overseen the delivery of hundreds of homes, including the 500-apartment Millers Quay, and the 25,000 sq ft Hythe office scheme at Wirral Waters.
There are also several notable projects currently progressing through planning including MEA Park, a 171,400 sq ft industrial scheme, and a six-acre David Lloyd leisure complex at Bidston Docks.
However, economic upheaval over recent years has meant progress on delivering the rest of the approved £4.5bn masterplan, which sets out a vision for 13,000 homes overall, has been slower than hoped over the last decade, prompting a rethink.
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While the exact details of the proposed changes to the Wirral Waters vision are unclear, sources with knowledge of it suggest that it reflects a reconfiguration rather than a scaling back of ambitions.
Richard Mawdsley, director of development for Wirral Waters, said: “Responding to changing markets and externalities, this vision reframes Peel’s long-term commitment to Wirral Waters: to deliver a thriving, mixed-use waterfront community that balances homes, jobs, heritage and sustainability. The right thing; in the right place; at the right time.”
Seb Gardiner, managing director of Peel Ports Logistics said: “This investment reflects our commitment to bringing the Eastfloat Terminal back to life – we are both restoring its heritage and transforming it into a vibrant, modern logistics hub.
“The Mersey region is firmly at the heart of UK trade, and restoring Eastfloat will allow us to keep meeting the demands of the most complex and challenging cargo movements.”
It has to be remembered that Birkenhead Docks is still mainly working docks and a lot of it isn’t used to it’s capacity. These modern sheds and warehouses will show shippers the left bank of the Mersey Dock system is still a viable option for receiving cargoes.
Peel is being flexible here and they still have plenty of residential in the pipeline for these quaysides.
By Anonymous
What does this do to the local plan housing numbers?
By Spatial planner
Bang goes Wirral’s efforts not to build on their greenbelt. All hopes of Peel building on the success of Millar’s Quay now seems a pipedream.
By Anonymous
It’s prime employment space with dockside and motorway links adjacent. Leave the skyscrapers for places like Woodside and Rose Brae, where there’s also some wider community and economic infrastructure already in place.
By More Anonymous than the others
Unfortunately this is a clear case in point that Wirral Local Plan residential allocations are undeliverable and unviable. A Local Plan based on homes purely on brownfield site concentrated to the East of the Borough will fail (is failing).
By YIMBY
Seems a little short-sighted not to have some tower elements to maximise the density and have enough footfall for local businesses to benefit from as well as provide more homes.
By GetItBuilt!
On the face of it, this is very disappointing. The ambition has been watered down at every step but the mid-rise housing option seemed a really good fit. Storage units will also make the recently completed housing more isolated.
Looking at that CGI, it’s a really inefficient use of land, land which is a tremendous historic asset to Birkenhead. A real shame.
By Mike
Nothing wrong with working docks, it’s what they where built for after all.
By Anonymous
Wirral was always going to need to release Green Belt land – every developer, including those that recently failed at appeal (i.e., leverhulme) is preparing submissions for large scale housebuilding on the Wirral Green Belt. Six months from now Wirral will no longer be able to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply position and the floodgates will open.
By MarkMyWords
Peel will have to make up the 2,000-home shortfall on nearby land they own, preferably through higher-density development. With the local plan now adopted, it’s too late for them to back out or undermine WBC’s position.
By Paul Wilkinson
A very recent interview on YouTube showed John Whittaker outlining Peel’s plans for residential beyond the old Flour Mill and the pod housing, he stated there would be midrise blocks somewhere up to the roundabout.
By Anonymous
PNW – can you update this story to clarify that a Statement of Common Ground was agreed at the Local Plan examination stage regarding this land change, and therefore was baked into the housing delivery numbers? The representations by Peel Ports Group were prepared by Pegasus Group and are publicly available in the examination evidence library. Basically, the houses that were planned for this site were excluded from the Local Plan targets because the council knew this was coming.
By Anonymous
15 years!
I wish someone else, anyone else other than Peel owned the land in Merseyside.
Talk about procrastination, stagnation, land banking is immoral.
By Anonymous
Unfortunately this is all on Bennett’s watch. This and the budget cuts. So much for all the talk about Regen, makes you wonder if this was the plan all along
By Paul
A statement of common ground was agreed between council and Peel during the local plan examination. These numbers were not considered and were removed from the plan during the examination period. This update will not affect the current status and numbers set within the local plan.
By Steve Winch
Sounds like another pipe dream. The current Millers Key development charges silly sums just for a parking space forcing residents to park on the busy main road and now double yellow lines have stopped that they park on the grass verges and in entrances of businesses. The area might look nice but the stench from, the water is something else and not what residents would expect for the price they pay.
By Anonymous
A bit of realism, at least something is actually happening, a few more jobs and a small boost to the port . Probably the best solution, plenty of land elsewhere for housing. But may impact on Wirral’s rather doubtful plans for meeting housing numbers on brown field land only .will be interesting to see the response to the question above wether this land was excluded from the council’s housing numbers ?
By George
The north side of the docks has so much potential for high density housing, and has proven interest after the completion of Millers Quay. A thriving dock on the south bank is nothing to sniff at, and if further investment in the area leads to the development of higher density housing on the north bank then I think that’s a fair split
By Millers Quay Resident
@Steve Winch The SoCG states: The Local Plan Submission Draft only provides for the delivery of 2,200 dwellings out of a total capacity of 3,400 dwellings for Vittoria Studios over the life of the Plan.
Vittoria Studios and Sky Studios are the areas now being swapped out for non resi so that leaves a size shortfall in the Plan’s assumptions on housing delivery on non-Green Belt sites.
By Wirraler
Yeah yeah yeah
Then someone mentioned Peel
By Anon Sid
Looks like one of those failed russian holiday projects… Can we please think of who we want to attract to live there.. hi-tech high skill people.. there is no need for cuboid units
By Anonymous
They should FILL more of it in, up to the new college. But it is clearly a focus to take away high quality housing from Wirral and take it to Liverpool.
By Anonymous
Can we please use international units, Hectares and Sq.m.
By Anonymous
Your request has been noted.
By Julia Hatmaker
Literally wrote this into the The Integrated Regeneration Strategy for Birkenhead and Wirral Waters 2010
By Rachel
Oh dear, massive promises made both sides of the Mersey (and the airport) by a company that’s instead barely delivered anything and instead sat on prime Liverpool City Region infrastructure for 20 years. I notice the development pace by the same company when building in Manchester has been far more speedy, interesting that.
By Anonymous