Peel’s £175m ITC scheme to start next year

WORK on the £175m Peel International Trade Centre scheme at Wirral Waters is set to start in Birkenhead early next year.

Wirral Council’s newly elected leader, Cllr Phil Davies, is flying to China this week to witness the signing of the joint venture deal between Peel and its investment partner in the project, Sam Wa Minerals Group.

Mr Davies will be accompanied on the trip by Conservative and Liberal Democrat group leaders Cllr Jeff Green and Cllr Tom Harney, where they will meet Chinese investors and representatives from Wirral’s sister cities Suzhou and Taicang.

They will then go on to witness the signing in Beijing, which will kick-start the first project to get underway on either side of the £10bn Peel Waters project.

Cllr Davies said: “Signing this agreement represents a hugely significant milestone in the history of the £4.5bn Wirral Waters project. The International Trade Centre will be the first of its kind in the UK and represents an investment of £175m by Peel and its partners in China.

“It will create upwards of 3,000 jobs and will be the catalyst for further investment in the wider Wirral Waters site.”

The ITC will be developed in four phases and contain more than 2.5m sq ft of space. The building will allow up to 1,000 separate companies from China, India, South Korea or other emerging economies, to exhibit, sell, assemble and distribute their goods into the UK.

Each building will contain individual trade showroom units, storage and assembly facilities, serviced offices, a flexible exhibition space and ancillary services.

Lindsay Ashworth, development director at Peel, said: “Wirral Council has had the courage and vision to work with us to develop links with China.

“The work we have done together is now reaping significant rewards – rewards that will see the Wirral Waters vision coming to fruition and much-needed jobs and regeneration delivered.

“National and local Government support is crucial when conducting negotiations in China. I am very pleased that the leaders of all three hroups will be supporting this important signing and would like to thank them for their invaluable support to date.”