Partners sign agreement to advance £520m Health Innovation Bolton
Bolton Council, the NHS, and Peel Land are among the signatories of an accord that could see 700 acres west of Bolton Hospital transformed into a mixed-use scheme geared towards improving health outcomes.
The initiative’s sponsors expect Health Innovation Bolton – which could deliver 2,000 homes and 2.1m sq ft of R&D and health floorspace space – to attract £520m of capital investment and have a GDV of more than £1bn. The planned number of homes and employment floorspace have been reduced since the HIB masterplan was unveiled last year by 1,000 units and 600,0000 sq ft.
Having refined the vision, range of partners has now signed an agreement that obligates them to collaborate to bring the scheme to fruition. The agreement builds upon the MoU the parties signed in 2021.
They are Bolton Council, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford Estates, Peel Land, The University of Greater Manchester, Bolton College and facilities management business iFM.
Two of the partners, the council and Peel, which owns the vast majority of the land, are expected to establish a development vehicle to deliver the project. A consultation on the plans is to be held next year.
The development is to be located north and south of Plodder Lane off Junction 4 of the M61 in Bolton and within the NorthFold growth location, which all told could deliver 6m sq ft of industrial space and 9,000 homes across the two boroughs.
The site’s proximity to various health and educational institutions makes it an ideal place to develop a health-focused community, according to project partners.
“No comparable site in Greater Manchester offers the same combination of hospital adjacency, medical school and university proximity, and potential for a health-led innovation ecosystem”, they said.
Of the 4,500 jobs expected to be created, around 2,300 will go to local people.
The site is located west of Royal Bolton Hospital. Credit: SLR Consulting
Bolton Council Leader, Cllr Akhtar Zaman, said: “Meaningful regeneration goes beyond bricks and mortar to create new opportunities and lasting improvements in people’s lives.
“Health Innovation Bolton is the perfect example of this by bringing new jobs and much needed homes to our borough, while also addressing the fundamentally unfair health inequalities that impact our communities.
“The scale and ambition of HIB are an ideal fit for Bolton’s ongoing regeneration and make it a key project in the transformational NorthFold growth location.”
Stephen Wild, managing director, for Peel Land said: “HIB is exactly the kind of transformational investment needed to address long-standing health inequalities and build on the world-class health and life science ecosystem across Greater Manchester and the wider North West.
“Healthcare in isolation has never been the whole answer – it’s housing, jobs, green space and connections that are so needed to drive alignment of health and social care needs with the environment. This is exactly why HIB brings a hospital, university campus, new homes, jobs and local business together to form a new neighbourhood.
“Signing this partnership agreement marks a significant step for a scheme that will put health at the heart of a new neighbourhood in Bolton. We’re extremely proud to be working alongside partners who share our ambition to create something special and unique here. Together, we’re creating a blueprint for health-led regeneration that will benefit Bolton and Greater Manchester for generations.”
The project team features:
- SLR – masterplanning
- Studio Hoodless – design
- Savills – market and economics
- Deloitte – concept and business case
- CBRE – delivery plan
- Turley – planning
- ITransport – transport strategy
- Brookbanks – engineering and cost
- Aecom – transport corridor design
- Influential – marketing and comms
