Regeneration vehicle will speed delivery, says Neptune
THE regeneration vehicle set up to deliver five key sites in Liverpool will be able to achieve results much more quickly than if developers were appointed individually, according to Neptune Developments’ Steve Parry.
His firm has been appointed to the new Regeneration Liverpool body alongside Countryside Properties and Liverpool City Council’s existing joint venture partner, Sigma InPartnerships.
Neptune will take a lead on the commercial property elements of a series of projects including a £200m development at Stonebridge Cross, new new Knowledge Quarter for Lime St/Renshaw St, a District Centre for Edge Hill, a project at the former Gatehouse comprehensive school site and the Lodge Lane baths site. Further council-owned sites could be brought into the organisation’s remit as it develops.
Regeneration Liverpool will begin with finding a supermarket operator for the proposed £200m Stonebridge Cross development.
This 98-acre site is the largest in the city under the council’s ownership, and Regeneration Liverpool’s plan involves a foodstore, up to 500 new homes and a new site for the St John Bosco Art College.
The site of the former Gilmoss estate has seen several stalled proposals and Parry (right) said that if traditional methods of selecting a development partner were to be used it could take up to 18 months before development work could take place.
Through the new vehicle, the council can cross-subsidise infrastructure and school works knowing that it will receive all of the upside from profits generated through the sale of commercial land.
“The main advantage is the city gets the full market value for the site and it moves much more quickly,” he said.
A design team has already begun working up planning proposals for the site and an application is expected to be submittted within the next few months.
“We’re very conscious of the fact there have be a few false starts ahd that local people are very keen to see something happen.”
Neptune Developments will also lead on proposals for developing a new knowledge quarter area around Lime St and Renshaw St. The firm has already developed the Liverpool Science Parks buildings on behalf of the council and the city’s universities.
“We’re starting to work that up,” said Mr Parry. “We’ll look at that initially from Lime Street and then develop from there.”
An in-depth interview with Steve Parry appears here.
