UKREiiF | Northgate next phases up for grabs

Cheshire West and Chester Council’s plans for the future of the city centre regeneration scheme promises to be one of the eye-catching items on the conference menu.

CWAC is sharing a stand in Leeds with fellow councils Cheshire East and Warrington at UKREiiF this week.

As well as the next steps for the redevelopment of the Northgate area, industrial projects in Ellesmere Port within the Cheshire ORIGIN zone feature heavily on the agenda.

Northgate

Future phases of Northgate are up for discussion with developers. The area earmarked for regeneration covers 6.5-acres, which sits alongside the indoor market hall, cinema, multi-storey car park, commercial and business units, and Storyhouse Library.

Potential uses for any development include residential, commercial, leisure, educational, and cultural.

The council is hoping underline the area’s attractiveness with quality public space for pedestrians, which would link Northgate to nearby Watergate Street and Chester Cathedral.

A scheme to generate social value and community benefit would be the authority’s preference.

ORIGIN Ellesmere Port

Launched a year ago at UKREiiF, this scheme comprises of four development zones covering 1,300 businesses employing 24,100 people.

More than £750m has been invested to date by Regatta, Jaguar Land Rover / DHL, Westland Horticulture, Marks and Spencer, ESSAR, Peel (Protos), URENCO, Cheshire Oaks, University of Chester (Thornton Science Park), with a further £2bn forecast.

Delegates will receive an update on ORIGIN, which is forecast to increase to 1,463 businesses, employing 30,000 people by 2040.

Climate emergency response projects underway in the zone includes HyNet, an industry-led initiative to develop carbon capture usage, storage and hydrogen power.

Essar EET

The UK’s first low carbon process refinery is being created in Ellesmere Port.

EET is looking to develop a range of low carbon energy transition projects over the next five years.

This will be key to driving the UK’s low carbon transformation, and creating highly skilled employment opportunities.

Fulcrum

Fulcrum BioEnergy, is a clean energy company creating renewable fuels from landfill waste.

It has received a £16.8m grant from the Department for Transport Advanced Fuels Fund towards developing Fulcrum NorthPoint, converting residual to sustainable aviation fuel at the Essar Complex in Ellesmere Port.

This plant facility is anticipated to be able to convert about 600,000 tonnes of residual waste into 100 million litres of low-carbon SAF per year when it enters operations in 2027.

Protos

Also Ellesmere Port based, Protos connects energy intensive businesses with sources of low carbon energy.

Advanced Biofuel Solutions Ltd is developing a large industrial plant, situated in the Protos energy park.

ABSL have a joint development agreement with Greenergy to develop, construct and operate up to five waste-based biofuel plants in the UK.

The hub has the potential to support more than 3,000 jobs, with over £700m invested in the local area.

Stellantis

The ORIGIN zone features the UK’s first manufacturing plant dedicated solely to electric vehicles, the Stellantis group’s all-electric small van.

To ready the plant for EV production £100m has been invested. Stellantis is to become an electric-only brand by 2028.

Opportunities

Cllr Nathan Pardoe, Cheshire West and Chester Council’s cabinet member for inclusive economy, regeneration and digital transformation said: “Delegates to UKREiiF will hear about the future investment opportunities across our region.

“We have a strong track record and ambitious regeneration projects across the borough, the levelling up project to reimagine Ellesmere Port Market and the surrounding area is already underway.

“The first stage of a £22m town centre redevelopment is being completed in Winsford this month and site clearance has been completed for a new history centre to be built in Chester.

“You can find us at stand H20 where we’ll be shining a spotlight on Ellesmere Port, sharing the latest news about ORIGIN with new industrial premises now available at Link Logistics and the Vortex Business Park, both completed this month, we also have further land opportunities available.

“In Chester our focus is on Northgate phase two following the successes of phase one delivering Chester’s new award-winning market, restaurants, cinema, offices and car parking. This exciting future phase provides an opportunity to take forward a significant part of the city to bring residential living to the heart of Northgate.”

Cllr Pardoe added: “West Cheshire has an excellent record for attracting investment and Leeds will bring together more developers and investors to see for themselves what the borough can offer from available industrial land, office space and transport links.”