Property round-up: Peel submits £650m Chatham Waters plan; Edge Hill’s £14m Hub completes; and more

PEEL Land & Property has submitted an outline planning application to Medway Council to transform 26 acres of brownfield land on part of Chatham Docks into a £650 million mixed-use development following a successful public consultation.

Its proposed Chatham Waters scheme will provide an employment-led mixed-use redevelopment of the 1.9m sq ft site, including a commercial heart incorporating office space, education facilities, an ‘EventCity’, and a hotel alongside apartments and townhouses, plus landscaped public areas and a foodstore.

The Manchester-based developer said the scheme has the potential to create around 3,500 jobs.

At the public consultation in September, Peel showcased plans for the regeneration of the site and met with locals to gauge the public’s opinion. Some 90% of those questioned were in favour of the scheme.

James Whittaker, development director at Peel, said: “The feedback we received at the public consultation was invaluable and we are very pleased that so many people were supportive of our plans for Chatham Waters.

“We have taken the comments received on board and are pleased to have submitted a planning application to the council.”

Manchester-based 5Plus architects has designed the scheme and Indigo planning has advised on the application.

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EDGE HILL University has opened its new £14m hub for university students.
The 52,743 sq ft building will provide shops, dining and student service areas. It is the largest project to date designed by Liverpool-based architectural practice, ABW Architects.

The firm was founded by architects Andrew Brown and Simon Almond in 2008 and now employs eight people.

It has gained a reputation for eco-friendly designs and The Hub building was built to BREEAM ‘Excellent” standards. The design promotes natural light and ventilation, while energy will be recycled from cooking areas to provide heating. Solar-powered hot water supply, LED lighting and high levels of insulation have also been incorporated.

ABW director and co-founder Almond, who qualified as an architect in 1988, said: “The Hub is our most recent project in the higher education sector, and we are thrilled to see it being enjoyed by students.

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LANGTREE has completed its development of St Helens’ new rugby league stadium.

The club has now received the keys to the state-of-the-art 18,000 capacity arena, which will become its new home from next season.

It has taken 14 months to build and is situated on Peasley Cross Lane, to the south of St Helens town centre. It replaces the club’s historic and Knowsley Road ground.

Planning consent was granted in December 2009. Langtree appointed Barr to carry out the construction and startingUK to manage the project, with work startomg in August last year.

The stadium forms part of a wider development scheme featuring a 145,000 sq ft Tesco Extra store, some housing on on the former Knowsley Road site and the redevelopment of an existing Tesco store in the town into alternative retail units.

Langtree delivered the stadium on schedule, allowing Saints officials to spend the next ten weeks fitting out internal areas of the stadium, including kiosks, restaurants and turnstiles.

John Downes, managing director of Langtree, said: “This is a landmark project, not only for Saints, but for the town as a whole, and we are proud to have delivered it to such a high specification.

“Right through from the reception area to the refreshments stands and restaurants, it was crucial to deliver a 21st century rugby league stadium fitting for a club with the scale, support and ambition of Saints.

“We hope the new stadium gives Saints the commercial and sporting platform to move forward and achieve its goals.”

Saints chairman, Eamonn McManus, said: “A new stadium has been almost ten years in the making and I can’t begin to describe how pleased I am that we are finally at this point.  

“Langtree has done a great job and it looks fantastic.”

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SERVICED office provider Citibase has taken 7,500 sq ft of Grade A office space on the top floor of The Exchange building in St John’s Street, Chester. The rent is in the region of £15 per sq ft.

The building is owned by Yorkshire-based property developer Opus North.

Director Andrew Duncan said: “The Exchange, which was previously occupied by British Telecom, is a superb mixed-use building. It has been comprehensively refurbished to create 25,000 sq ft of offices, retail units, restaurants and hotels.

“The Exchange is close to Chester’s main retail and leisure facilities. In addition, Chester’s main bus station is approximately half a mile away whilst Chester’s mainline railway station is nearby, with regular services to Manchester, Liverpool and London Euston,” he added.

The Exchange’s tenants include Travelodge, Pizza Express and Pitcher and Piano.