Developer North Point Global creating 850 new homes, 150,000 sq ft of new commercial and retail space and a new hotel within what is considered to be Europe’s oldest Chinese community.
North Point Global chair David Choules said: “Following completion of the site acquisition, I am delighted to announce that work on this exciting scheme is now underway. Our phase 1 contractors, Bilt Group, and Scottish Power are on site working on site excavation and service provision. We’re looking forward to progressing above-ground development and it will be great to see the first phase of the project taking shape over the next few months.”
North Point Global received detailed planning permission for phase 1 of the project in December and outline consent for the subsequent phases.
Phase 1 of the New Chinatown development is due for completion before the end of 2017 and the whole scheme is scheduled for completion in 2019.
One of the project’s elements is the proposed Chinese retail and commercial hub, accommodating Chinese-based businesses and retail outlets. The developer is looking for Chinese companies to take space in it.
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David Choules said: “From the outset we wanted this scheme to be an authentic Chinese development that brought new commercial energy and entrepreneurialism into the heart of an historic Chinatown. This is not only something unique in the UK, it will be something unique outside China itself.”
Lead architect Antonio Garcia, managing director of Blok Architecture, said: “Now we are on site it will hopefully give an impetus to neighbouring projects in the Baltic as well as the Brewery Village and St James Heritage Quarter developments. The city centre is moving south and that is why the potential re-opening of the St James station would have such a positive impact. There is so much exciting potential and we are delighted to be kick-starting it with work now commencing on New Chinatown.”
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