Peel L&P, with support from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the Merseyside Pension Fund has secured a funding deal that will create up to 113 new jobs in a 34,000 sq ft Grade A office development on a key site at Wirral Waters.
Merseyside Pension Fund, advised by CBRE’s Investment Advisory team, has agreed an £8.5 million loan facility to support the development of No 1 Tower Road South. This represents the fourth investment from the Merseyside Pension Fund and is the first to be made outside of Liverpool City Centre. The loan has been approved alongside £4.5m of regional and local government funding.
In addition to No 1 Tower Road South, the loan will support the development of a 70,000 sq ft multi-unit manufacturing and logistics project at MEA Park.
Peel L&P will be responsible for the delivery of the three-storey, BREEAM Excellent office complex. The building will target local businesses and inward investors looking to either relocate or who require modern, sustainable floor space options to facilitate their growth.
With funding secured the No 1 Tower Road South development will continue the regeneration of the wider Four Bridges neighbourhood area within Wirral Waters.
Tower Road is already home to Wirral Metropolitan College’s Wirral Waters £10.5m, RIBA award-winning built environment campus, and the Tower Wharf building occupied by The Contact Company. As well as the new office, the Four Bridges neighbourhood will see the development of Egerton Village, a hub for retail, amenities and the arts, and the Maritime Knowledge Hub which will provide a national base for marine engineering research and development and survival training as well as business accelerator space for the marine sector.
Work is also progressing well on Tower Road itself, with a new, improved and adaptable streetscape design to support existing occupiers, delivery of which commenced on 8th June. Improvements made in this streetscape scheme, and the wider Wirral Waters development, aim to attract new residents, students, visitors and new businesses to create new job opportunities, improve the environment, as well as making this vital road link safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
Joe Bahsoon, Director, CBRE Capital Advisors commented:
“Wirral Waters is a landmark scheme within the Liverpool City Region and meets the Fund’s core objective of supporting local development and regeneration. Occupiers and investors alike are increasingly seeking buildings which meet ESG criteria and on behalf of the Fund we are delighted to be facilitating the development of a BREEAM certified building.”
Richard Mawdsley, Peel L&P’s Director of Development for Wirral Waters, said:
“We are delighted to be working with both Merseyside Pension Fund and CBRE on Wirral Waters. Securing this funding means that these two highly sustainable and job creating projects can proceed as planned, bringing investment, economic growth and prosperity to Wirral. We hope to be announcing the contractor for No 1 Tower Road South very shortly with work starting on-site this year.”
Wirral Waters is a strategically important regeneration project in the City region. Once complete, it will have a total GDV of £4.5 billion and will regenerate 500 acres of land to create 20 million sq ft of mixed-use floor space, 5 million sq ft of employment space and up to 13,000 new homes.
