A £20 million investment into the Canalside South regeneration scheme in Wolverhampton was today announced by Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands.
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has provided the loan facility to Wavensmere Homes to bring about the £150 million redevelopment and provide hundreds of new homes, including 109 affordable plots.
Canalside South is one of the biggest regeneration projects of its kind in the region with more than 530 new energy efficient homes to be delivered across the former British Steel and Crane Foundry site and land off Qualcast Road, which has lain derelict for 15 years.
The 17.5 acre former industrial site established by City of Wolverhampton Council and Canal & River Trust is located within the city centre – moments from the transport interchange – and benefits from frontage onto the Wyrley & Essington Canal and the Wolverhampton Branch of the Birmingham Main Line Canal.
The Mayor said: “It’s exciting to think that this huge derelict site – the size of 10 football pitches – will soon become a place where people can live, raise families and thrive.
“And schemes like Canalside South are not just about building homes, they rebuild communities – giving people places they can feel connected to and proud of.
“The investment announced today is significant because this scheme has a vital role to play in the ongoing regeneration of Wolverhampton, providing hundreds of badly needed new homes, more than 100 of them affordable, within a stone’s throw of the city centre.”
so we are thrilled to be selected as the debt funding partner for one of the region’s most high profile regeneration schemes. With well over 500 mixed tenure homes and complementary amenities, Wolverhampton Canalside South is an integral development for the revitalisation of this West Midlands city.
“Since agreeing our first deal with Wavensmere Homes 5 years ago, the company has accrued a reputation as one of the UK’s most prominent and impressive SME housebuilders. This new loan facility sits sweetly within our funding parameters and we could not be more excited to be involved with bringing about the transformation of such a key waterside development. Our focuses are aligned in regenerating complex brownfield sites, with Canalside South allowing our excellent relationship with the Wavensmere team to continue.”
Birmingham headquartered Wavensmere Homes has 3,500 homes on site, or currently in planning. The firm is in the final phase of the £175 million Nightingale Quarter, which is the redevelopment of the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary into 925 energy efficient houses, apartments, and community amenities. The company is constructing 5 other major brownfield regeneration schemes, located in central Birmingham, Derby, Cheltenham, and Ipswich, and has further projects in the immediate pipeline.