Plans for the regeneration of Liverpool’s Festival Gardens site have taken a major step forward with the selection of a development partner.
Liverpool City Council has chosen a joint venture company, led by Urban Splash and igloo Regeneration, following a procurement process launched last autumn.
The two award-winning companies have come together in a unique partnership to collaborate on creating an innovative and sustainable housing scheme on the landmark riverside site.
Founded in Liverpool in 1993, Urban Splash has continued to pioneer the creation of great homes and workspaces across the wider Liverpool city region and beyond.
Its vast portfolio includes the transformation of the Ropewalks in the 1990s, to creating commercial estates like the Matchworks in Speke to large scale regeneration projects across the country.
The prime brownfield development scheme, one of the largest in northern England, has the backing of Homes England and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
Part of a wider 90-acre site, Festival Gardens’ Development Zone extends to 27 acres and sits just three miles south of Liverpool city centre.
The remediated site occupies a stunning waterfront location, benefitting from outstanding green and blue infrastructure with the Festival Gardens parkland, first opened in 1984 and including formal Chinese and Japanese gardens, and the River Mersey immediately adjacent.
Development will be centred on phased, residential-led plans and multigenerational living with a range of housing types and tenures, maximising delivery and including more than 20% affordable housing.
The announcement comes two years after the opening of the Southern Grasslands – Liverpool’s first public park of the 21st century – a 37-acre green lung which adjoins the site and was created from the award-winning remediation of the development zone.