Birkenhead’s Egerton Village development set to continue despite loss of guarantor

Peel Waters has told Wirral Council that it will no longer act as a guarantor for the Egerton Village project, to be delivered by Starship.

Despite this the council has opted to proceed with the novation of grant funding for the commercial project from Peel to Starship, a Wirral-based modular construction company, to facilitate the project.

A grant from the Wirral Waters Investment Fund covered around 40% of the project costs, then had to be novated from Peel to Starship.

The OMI-designed Egerton Village would create 14,500 sq ft of mixed-use scheme featuring a dockside restaurant, a coffee shop, retail units, artist studios, and workspaces. It will create an estimated 49 jobs for the local economy.

Wirral Council approved the funding novation in January, with conditions that stipulated that Starship would take over the development from Peel. Under the terms of the agreement, Peel would remain as guarantor and step in should Starship fail to deliver.

However, Peel has now decided to withdraw from its role as guarantor for the Egerton Village project.

Richard Mawdsley, director of development for Wirral Waters, said: “Given the change in plans for the site, a new guarantor agreement has been drawn up to reflect the new delivery structure and protect parties involved.”

The new agreement is subject to ‘step in’ rights – a contractual right that allows one party to take over the obligations of another party should the latter fail.

In this case it would be the council’s responsibility to do so.

A report to Wirral Council’s economy regeneration and housing committee states that an alternative, unnamed guarantor was considered by the council, but it was determined that the entity “did not have sufficient assets or financial strength to provide equivalence to Peel.”

Mawdsley added: “We are delighted to have the Starship Group as a partner to deliver Egerton Village.

“Starship are an innovative, forward thinking local business with significant expertise in modern methods of construction and sustainability.”

He continued: “We look forward to the project being delivered and new amenities being in place for the fast-growing local community.”

The Egerton Village is part of a wider regeneration plan that has been in the pipeline since it was conceived in 2005.

It has a predicted 30–40-year build programme with estimated overall investment of £4.5bn.