Harworth picks Taylor Wimpey for Moss Nook

Following its appointment, the housebuilder has lodged early-stage plans to build the 258-unit first phase of the residential development in St Helens.

Publicly listed Harworth Group is the landowner and master developer for Moss Nook, which is its first residential scheme in the region.

The development is to sit on a 95-acre derelict brownfield site around a mile south of St Helens town centre. Harworth secured outline planning consent for 900 homes at the site in 2017 but a complex history of usage – including a coal pit, colliery and concrete pipeworks – has meant the scheme has been challenging to bring forward, the group has said.

Harworth has been undertaking site preparation and remediation works at the site over the past few years, and last month was awarded £2.05m from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to help fund infrastructure work, including a spine road and associated landscaping, necessary to progress the scheme.

The appointment of Taylor Wimpey to build the homes is the next step forward in the scheme’s delivery.

Taylor Wimpey plans to build a selection of two-, three- and four-bedroom houses, according to a reserved matters application for the first phase submitted to St Helens Council. The units will be a mix of detached, semi-detached and mews properties, offering a mix of smaller starter homes and larger family dwellings.

Other design features for the first phase include the tree-lined main spine road to serve the site, landscaping to the Sutton Road and Watery Lane frontages, publicly accessible open space and children’s play, alongside several footpath and cycleway connections to the wider area.

Vehicular access to the development will be from the new spine road, connecting to Sutton Road and Watery Lane. In addition, the outline proposals consented in 2017 include a commercial area, open space and sports pitches.

The project team for the first phase include MPSL as the architect, Turley as planning consultant and Eddisons as highways consultant.

Matt Whiteley, development manager at Harworth said: “The selection of Taylor Wimpey as our development partner for the first phase at Moss Nook, and its reserved matters application, are key milestones for this site and we are delighted with the progress being made in bringing this challenging site forward for development.

“Taylor Wimpey is one of the best housebuilders in the business and its scheme, allied to our investment in remediation, infrastructure and public realm, will set a high bar for the quality of future phases at Moss Nook.”

And Ian Harrison, land and planning director at Taylor Wimpey North West, added: “We were pleased to have been chosen as the preferred developer for the first phase of Moss Nook and are happy to work with Harworth and St Helens Council to deliver much-needed new homes to St Helens.

“We’re involved in bringing an important development forward and we’ve taken the time to develop proposals we believe will deliver a thriving new community to the area.”