BXB and Promenade move to next stage in St Helens
The joint venture developers looking to regenerate the Cowley Hill Works site are to finalise a draft masterplan following a “positive” first round of consultation.
Development vehicle BXB Cowley Hill first announced its plans to breathe new life into the 104-acre brownfield site, which is allocated in St Helens’ emerging Local Plan, in July this year, setting out plans to build more than 800 homes at the site.
Consultation, which ran between July and August, saw 5,000 leaflets distributed to local households, while a consultation website, with traffic driven by social media, reached in exces of 12,000 page views over the period. In total, 87% of respondents to the consultation expressed a form of support.
BXB Cowley Hill said it is now close to a draft masterplan, which will be the subject of a further round of engagement before a final masterplan is submitted to St Helens Borough Council later in the year.
Gary Goodman, director at BXB Cowley Hill, said: “We are pleased that residents agree with the principle of regenerating this major brownfield site and we are confident that the draft masterplan we present in the coming weeks will be one that benefits the St Helens community.”
The Cowley Hill Works is within walking distance of St Helens town centre. The site is owned by NSG Pilkington UK, which will continue to operate from its current factory, on a 40-acre site immediately east of the site. The JV said that it understanding is that proceeds generated from the sale of the land will be re-invested by NSG Group into the St Helens operation.
The professional team on the project includes Nexus Planning, Nrock Carmichael, Curtins, RSK, ERAP Consultant Ecologists, TBA Landscape Architecture and Lexington.
Since its formation, Liverpool-based BXB has established a reputation for taking on problematic sites, moving forward projects in the High Peak and at the former Cottam Hall brickworks in Preston, which received infrastructure planning consent in March this year. Liverpool developer Promenade Estates has also been active this year, buying a 10-acre site in Ellesmere Port from Hansteen for housing.
