Placefirst breaks ground on £35m Bolton resi

Main contractor Caddick Construction has begun work on the nearly three-acre, brownfield site opposite the former Beales department store.

Developer Placefirst is eyeing a summer 2025 completion date for the Central Street project, which will comprise 167 homes available for private rent. The scheme has a gross development value of £35m and will contain a mixture of apartments and townhouses.

Residents of the Bolton-based Central Street will be able to enjoy rooftop terraces and gardens when construction wraps.

Designed by architect Levitt Bernstein and landscape architect CW Studio, Central Street contains a network of pedestrian-priority streets, as well as a courtyard and a square.

Ground-floor commercial units will be available in the buildings, helping to activate the streetscape.

Architect Levitt Bernstein designed the housing project for Placefirst. Credit: via Placefirst

Upon project completion, Placefirst will stay involved in Central Street. The build-to-rent company will manage the property in the years to come.

Central Street has been in the works for a few years, with Forshaw Demolition clearing the site in November 2021. At that time, Placefirst was shooting for a 2023 completion on a smaller version of the project. Between now and then, the group decided to reevaluate the project and found ways to improve it – including increasing the number of homes from 150 to 167.

Central Street is part of Bolton Council’s £1bn Croal Valley regeneration strategy. Other projects include  Forshaw Land and Property Group’s £35m Bark Street plan and Bolton at Home’s 118-home Chorley Street development.

Bolton Council Leader Cllr Martyn Cox described Central Street as “a perfect example of what we are delivering through our town centre masterplan”.

“Without the intervention of the council, this area would have remained an underused brownfield site,” Cox said.

“But by working with our partners at Placefirst it will become a new neighbourhood of high-quality homes that will attract people into the centre and make it a more vibrant and attractive place,” he continued.

“This is an exciting time for Bolton town centre as work is now underway at a number of key sites with more projects to come later in the year.”

Caddick Construction’s Bill Metcalfe, Placefirst’s Darran Lawless, Bolton Council Leader Cllr Martyn Cox, and Caddick’s Paul McCormick during the ground breaking ceremony for Central Street. Credit: Paul Heyes

For his part, Placefirst development director Darran Lawless said his team was looking forward to bringing the Central Street neighbourhood to life.

“This will be a significant development delivering 167 high quality, energy-efficient homes, built specifically for the private rental market,” Lawless said.

“Addressing the shortage of high-quality available rental housing is a key part of Bolton Council’s masterplan and we are proud to be part of this, creating a new community that will have a positive impact on the local area and local economy,” he continued.

Ian Threadgold, managing director of Caddick Construction in the North West, echoed Lawless’s sentiment about a need for homes.

“There is huge demand for high-quality new homes and Placefirst is leading the region by bringing to market this exciting new development, transforming brownfield land into a vibrant hub for Bolton,” Threadgold said.

“We are very proud to have been selected as Placefirst’s construction partner for the first phase of works and we look forward to helping to deliver these exceptional new homes for local families and the wider community.”

In addition to Caddick, Levitt Bernstein, and CW Studio, the project team for Central Street includes engineer Alan Johnston Partnership, quantity surveyor Walker Sime, and project manager Mackie Project Consultants. Hoare Lea is the monitoring and evaluation consultant. Gunnercooke and Hill Dickinson are on the project’s legal team.

Placefirst will be attending the Invest in Bolton Event on 2 March.