Barwood appointed to Venture Fields site

The new Manchester office of Barwood Developments has been selected by Halton Council as joint venture development partner for the Venture Fields site at Widnes Waterfront.

The 11-acre mixed use site is adjacent to The Hive, the new cinema, bowling alley and ice rink development which was completed last year.

It is expected to create 200,000 sq ft of commercial space.

Architects on the scheme are AEW, Manchester.

Work is expected to start on site within the next four months.

Barwood will develop this site with mixed-use leisure and industrial/trade counter scheme complementing the numerous developments that have already been undertaken in the surrounding area.

Andrew Dickman, director of Barwood Developments North, said: "We see this as a superb opportunity to develop this key site in a major development area which has been the focus for development within the Borough of Halton.

"This site will be further enhanced by the new Mersey crossing linking the M62 and M56 with Liverpool."

Barwood Developments North was opened in August last year by Barwood Developments, which is headquartered in Northampton.

Dickman, who previously worked at Patrick Properties, said the Widnes scheme is the second project handled by the northern office, which has already worked on the M6 Epic development near Wigan.

He added: "The office was opened as a reaction to the fact that the property market has been fairly quiet in the north for the last four or five years and we see that situation changing."

Cllr Ron Hignett, Halton Council's Executive Board member for physical environment, said "After a vigorous and lengthy selection process, we feel Barwood will bring a credible track record of delivering on projects."

CBRE acted for Halton and B8 Real Estate for Barwood.

Both will be retained letting agents on this scheme along with Richard Lucas and Co who are acting on the leisure element.