Seven years after it was first unveiled planners have finally given the go-ahead to a £260m scheme to transform a historic railway works. The development is one of the North of England’s biggest ever regeneration projects.
The 180-acre Horwich Loco Works scheme — jointly led by a partnership between Bluemantle Ltd and Orbit Developments — has been approved by Bolton Council and could take as long as a decade to complete.
Originally conceived in 2007 as the Horwich Vision, the latest scheme involves a range of commercial developments alongside health and community facilities, and at least 1,700 new homes. Rebranded as Rivington Chase, the developers believe it could create as many as 1,500 full time jobs and pump an extra £19m into the local economy annually.
“As one of the largest regeneration schemes ever proposed in the North of England, Rivington Chase will bring significant new benefits to the residents of Horwich and the surrounding area,” claimed Bluemantle director Mark Caldwell.
Because of the size of the brownfield scheme Manchester-based HOW Planning has been working with master planners Cass Associates, CBO Transport, Tyler Grange and ROC to ready the proposals. “We have been working closely with Bolton Council and other key stakeholders over a number of years to develop a deliverable, high quality master plan for this complex and challenging site,” said Conor Vallelly a principal at HOW Planning.
From the start the developers confirmed that several of the Victorian locomotive works buildings will be preserved to create a “heritage core” to be used by the community or as the basis of a civic space.
“As it stands, the site is the most complete set of railway locomotive workshops remaining in the country — the town of Horwich itself only came into being because of the arrival of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway — so it is important some of the buildings remain,” said Stuart Whittle, chairman of Horwich Heritage Society.
Opened in 1886 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the Horwich Works produced and overhauled the majority of Britain’s legendary steam locomotives and rolling stock. During the Second World War the site transferred production to building nearly 500 Cruiser, Centaur and Matilda tanks. Closing just three years before its 100th anniversary the entire site was designated a conservation area by Bolton Council in 2006.
The Rivington Chase project is the second regeneration scheme that hopes to transform parts of Bolton. Harworth Estates, one of the Midlands’ largest property and regeneration companies, has already started work on redeveloping the former Cutacre colliery site into a state-of-the-art distribution centre.
Budget supermarket group, Aldi, has agreed to buy the first 450,000sq ft hub on the 250-acre development close to Junction 4 of the M61 motorway. When complete the Logistics North scheme will provide more than four-million square feet of warehousing and distribution facilities.
Previous Post
High Quality Office Space on the way at Leeds Bond Court
