Blackburn Council to appoint developer for old market site

BLACKBURN Council is close to picking a developer to bring forward regeneration of the town’s former market hall.

The council’s officers are seeking permission to enter into detailed negotiations with a developer who is proposing to build a 70,000 sq ft foodstore on stilts and 46,000 sq ft of non-food retail/restaurants/cafes in five separate blocks.

Stallholders were moved from the former market last year into The Mall shopping centre following a £66m extension of the building (pictured), which is run by Capital & Regional.

It is now in the process of buying up perimeter shops around the old market to make way for the development, and is planning to re-house around 500 council staff members currently based at The Exchange building into the council-owned Telephone House once a refurbishment is complete.

A start on site at Telephone House is expected next month with a view to the scheme completing in April 2013.

Documents due before the council’s executive this week state that it began looking for a developer in March last year, and that an initial 32 companies expressed an interest in developing the site. Six of these were shortlisted and two have been progressed, with the scheme containing a slightly larger foodstore now identified by council officers as the preferred option as it demonstrates “a more robust financial appraisal and greater prospects of deliverability”.

If the preferred bid is pursued, The Exchange building will not be needed but a document due before the council’s executive this week has said that its availability will “enable future regeneration alongside the former markets redevelopment project”.

It added that bringing Telephone House back into use “is an important element of the regeneration of the Knowledge Quarter”.