Keepmoat rounds off £80m Knowsley community

Huyton’s Canterbury Park now hosts 303 homes, with 125 offering affordable housing in partnership with Livv Housing Group, Knowsley Council, Knowsley Housing Trust, and North Huyton Communities Futures.

Keepmoat began works on site in 2019. Residential properties that once stood across the 20-acre site were demolished to make way for the £80m redevelopment of the area.

With all homes now built and sold, the final homeowners have moved into the community off Princess Drive, which was previously a site of substandard post-war housing.

Peter Barlow, North West managing director at Keepmoat, said: “The community that has been created is thriving and situated in a brilliant location surrounded by green spaces.

“Over the four-year construction process, the development has engaged more than 100 young people locally through apprenticeships, college, and school talks, and training programmes.”

He added: “These homes were specifically designed for first-time buyers, growing families and downsizers, to support residents across the housing ladder.”

The residential development provides 66 two-bed, 185 three-bed, and 52 four-bed homes.

This scheme is the fourth phase of the North Huyton Revive Programme, a long-standing regeneration programme partly funded by Liverpool City Council.

Tim Molton, REVIVE project director and North Huyton Communities Futures chief executive, added: “Keepmoat has been the cornerstone of a significant public and private sector partnership known as Revive since they were selected as lead developer in 2005.

“Over the 19 years that Keepmoat has been involved in the partnership, they have led the rebuilding programme, often through difficult times in the housing market and never wavered in their support of the stakeholder’s objectives.

“Keepmoat has gone above and beyond their original remit to physically build out the new communities.”

Livv Housing Group and North Huyton Communities Futures received significant early investment to clear the site and deliver improvements to the area’s infrastructure.

MPSL Planning and Design and Trevor Bridge Associates led on architectural and landscape design. Coopers, Avian Ecology, RSK, and Croft Transport Solutions also contributed expertise to the project.