Urban & Civic gets green light for £55m regen scheme

Urban & Civic has received outline planning permission for the first phase of its 2.6ha Westside regeneration project in Wolverhampton.

Enabling works have started for the mixed-use scheme, with construction on the first phase to start this year and complete in 2020.

This would include a multiplex cinema, 4,645m² of additional leisure space, 3,716m² of new restaurants, 100-plus bed hotel, and multi-storey car park.

It also includes land between Penn Road Island and Salop Street, including the current School Street and Peel Street car parks and the area around Market Square.

Phase 2, which is yet to be approved, would see city centre homes built as well as additional retail and leisure space provided, using land between Salop Street and Darlington Street, including the car park on Ford Street. Work on this is likely to finish in 2022.

Barry Crabb, Urban & Civic project manager for the scheme said while phase two was included within the local plan and connectivity to this future development land has been considered when master planning phase one no detailed consideration had been given to the exact mix of uses within the second stage.

Cllr John Reynolds, cabinet member for city economy at the City of Wolverhampton Council, said the scheme has already attracted “unprecedented demand from occupiers”. 

He added: “There is a general enthusiasm around the Westside opportunity, and optimism concerning the groundswell of regeneration activity across the city, where £3.7bn of investment is on site or in the pipeline.”