Peel L&P, the Legacy Foundation and Wirral Council are bringing forward the £90m scheme known as Wirral Waters One. Tony McDonough reports
Construction of 500 homes on Wirral’s waterfront is set to begin before the end of the year after contracts exchanged on the £90m project.
Peel L&P, the Legacy Foundation and Wirral Council are bringing forward the scheme known as Wirral Waters One which will see the creation of 500 one and two-bedroom apartments, including 100 affordable homes. Affordable homes are those offered for rent at no more than 80% of local market rents.
Wirral Waters One will be the first of a number of residential schemes coming forward along the Northbank neighbourhood area at Wirral Waters and will include dock edge walkways, gardens and terraces for residents as well as a better pedestrian walkways and cycleway connections.
Richard Mawdsley, director of development for Wirral Waters at Peel L&P, said: “This exchange of contracts follows on from the planning approval which was granted by Wirral Council back in December. It’s a significant step forward and another hurdle overcome for this ground-breaking residential scheme.
“We are acutely aware of the demand for local housing and are keen to get this build underway as soon as possible. We anticipate remediation work starting on site in the autumn and hope to have the build itself underway shortly thereafter.”
Birkenhead MP, Frank Field, who has been instrumental in the development of Wirral Waters One, said: “This is most welcome news. Andrew Forsey, in my parliamentary office, initiated the idea, suggesting that I approach Legacy to see if they would be interested in investing in new housing in Birkenhead. We then set up a meeting with the Council to make that idea become reality.
A spokesperson Legacy also said: “We are very proud of the 100 affordable homes being brought to this high-quality scheme whilst also supporting the local community with a Legacy grant for sports and education in the local area.
“We have brought the council, the landowner and Aviva to the table and have worked tirelessly to get this over the line. We look forward to working with other councils on similar projects.”