Keyworker starts on £30m Macclesfield scheme

BLACKPOOL-based property developer, Keyworker Homes, is to carry out a £30m redevelopment project in Cheshire after buying land from the East Cheshire NHS Trust.

The six-and-a-half-acre site, previously part of Macclesfield General Hospital, will be used for a mixed use project including office and retail space, affordable housing, and a children’s day nursery.

Leigh-based Flourish Capital provided finance of £2.3m to Keyworker.

Planning for the scheme has been approved and demolition of the old buildings is now under way. Keyworker expects to have finished the nursery, apartments and commercial units by mid 2011 with the rest of the site due for completion by autumn 2012.

A listed building on the site, known as the Clock Tower, has been sold to Dane Housing for a 36-property affordable housing scheme, and part of the site has been sold to Cannon Capital Partnership for the construction of a care home.

Eian Bailey, managing director of Keyworker Homes, said: “The Macclesfield development secures the future of the company and its expansion plans. This is by far the largest scheme Keyworker has undertaken and has enabled us to take on a new commercial director who brings great expertise into the company to complement the existing senior team.

“Whilst trading conditions are generally still difficult and funding is a large hurdle, Keyworker is confident that Macclesfield and other projects we have with varied uses and end users will see us through the next three difficult years.”

East Lancashire law firm Haworth & Nuttall advised Keyworker. Mace & Jones provided advice to Flourish Capital.