Attention turns to land sales at St Helens’ largest brownfield site

Land specialists BXB and developer Promenade Estates have finalised the Section 106 agreement for the 1,100-home redevelopment of Cowley Hill Works and are now considering bids from housebuilders for the site. 

The Section 106 agreement includes total contributions of in excess of £1m, according to a report to St Helens Council’s planning committee. 

  • £681,300 towards off-site biodiversity mitigation and net gain
  • £450,000towards sustainable transport initiatives.  

The joint venture, BXB Cowley Hill, is to redevelop 104 acres of the former Pilkington Glass Cowley Hill Works, operated by NSG Group.

NSG operates a glass coating facility on a 40-acre site next to BXB Cowley Hill’s land.

Outline permission for the scheme was backed by St Helens planning committee in March. As well as the homes, the project could see a 100-bedroom hotel and 43,000 sq ft of commercial space off College Street delivered. 

The first phase would comprise 198 homes and later phases of 328, 289, and 285 would follow. 

The BXB and Promenade joint venture is in talks with parties interested in buying the land but would not confirm whether the site would be sold as a whole or in individual parcels.

“The scheme demonstrates our unique remediation and engineering skills and is an excellent example of how the right technical skills can unlock brownfield land for new housing,” said Gary Goodman, director of BXB. 

Cowley Hill Works is the largest brownfield land allocation within St Helens’ emerging local plan. The redevelopment of the site is expected to generate capital expenditure of £200m, according to the joint venture. 

Daniel Hynd, managing director of Promenade Estates, said: “This is an excellent example of the value we can add through our ‘brownfield first’ strategy and we remain on the look-out for similar sites.   

“The opportunity to work with local authorities to help them meet their housing needs from within the existing built environment will be vital if we are to protect our Green Belt from undue erosion.” 

Nexus Planning is the planning consultant for the project, which was designed by architect Brock Carmichael. 

 

Your Comments

Read our comments policy

Good effort !

By Tannoy

Related Articles

Sign up to receive the Place Daily Briefing

Join more than 13,000 property professionals and receive your free daily round-up of built environment news direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Join more than 13,000 property professionals and sign up to receive your free daily round-up of built environment news direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you are agreeing to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

"*" indicates required fields

Your Job Field*
Other regional Publications - select below