Peel Group, the firm behind some of the North West’s most iconic schemes including MediaCityUK, Liverpool Waters and The Trafford Centre, is continuing its massive development programme, the £50bn Ocean Gateway.

Speaking at the North West Development Conference Anthony Hatton, Director of Strategic Projects said of the projects success:  “Over the first 10 years of Ocean Gateway we have facilitated £5bn of capital investment which has delivered 8m sq ft of employment space, 21,000 jobs, 4,800 new homes and 370 MW of electronic capacity enough to meet the needs 120,000 homes.” [emaillocker id=”71749″]

The company is keen to incorporate mitigating the climate crisis into its plans, and Hatton described it as a “new challenge.” He said: “Sustainability goals and the climate emergency are leading us all to consider on-site water and energy resources.”

The firm has 22,000 homes, 15 million sq ft of employment space and 594 MW of electricity storage and generation planned.

“Romal Capital is not about building and moving on but about building and staying put.”

That was the message from Louise Pearce, Investment Director for the Liverpool based developer Romal Capital as she outlined their commitment to long-term placemaking.

The developer is working on a number of projects within the wider Central Docks area, including the delivery of its second residential scheme – Park Central – consisting of 237 apartments.

Romal Capital has achieved funding for “a scheme of 4 blocks which will be 536 apartments in total.” But Pearce added: “We won’t build unless we have funding in place. We’re not reliant on sales either.”

Romal Capital are also part of the project for a new £20m Isle of Man Ferry Terminal, which will form a core part of the Liverpool Waters scheme.

Knowsley is an area in the process of a “placemaking journey” according to Dale Milburn, Executive Director for Regeneration and Economic Development at Knowsley Council. Having been one of the hardest hit areas after the financial crisis, it is now “the second most deprived borough in the UK” according to Milburn.

Keen to flip the script, the town is engaging in schemes to allow the area to recover, and Milburn detailed their plans for the borough’s towns: “We are investing £90m this year in three of our town centre,  we are building a theatre in Prescott, Shakespeare North,  which is seeing new independent businesses opening in the town on the back of that.

The council is also facilitating a large house building programme, Milburn said: “In terms of housing we set ourselves a target for 10,000 new homes by 2028, and we’ve delivered 4,000 to date with a further 1,800 on site. I have a planning application for 4,000 and I’m shortly about to release the land for 2,000 more.”

These measures form an integral part of the council’s growth agenda – to increase the numbers of houses, council tax revenue, the number of businesses and the floor space available to them.

2,151,000m sq ft of employment space is in the pipeline in Knowsley and 1,315,000m has recently been completed.

Whole areas of the North West are undergoing radical transformation, which will change the face of the region.

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