PegasusLife preferred bidder on council site

Retirement housing provider PegasusLife has exchanged contracts to build a retirement housing scheme on the site of former Cheshire East Council offices in Wilmslow, Cheshire, after being selected as preferred bidder for the location.

The developer plans to provide a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments with complementary care facilities on the 1.93 acre site known as Remenham in Chapel Lane, Wilmslow.

PegasusLife will now prepare a planning application for the site which already designated as suitable for residential development, and if successful, aims to start construction in the spring of 2015. The value of the scheme and number of apartments is yet to be confirmed.

East Cheshire Engine of the North, Cheshire East Council's development agency appointed Colliers International in Manchester to market the site to potential buyers.

The site consists of two empty office buildings.

PegasusLife, based in Winchester, Hampshire, has a portfolio of schemes throughout London, Southern England and the Midlands and the development in Wilmslow would be its first in the North West of England.

Darran Lawless, managing director of Engine of the North, said: "Working on behalf of the council a programme has been prepared in respect of a portfolio of sites to deliver over 4,000 homes and 3,000 jobs generating major capital receipts for the authority, some £40m in the next 3 years net of development costs, and the sale of Remenham to PegasusLife is another important step in achieving those goals."