The clean-up of the former Caparo Engineering works in Walsall paves the way for the construction of 252 new homes.
The joint venture developer is Anthem Lovell LLP, a partnership between Morgan Sindall subsidiary Lovell and local housing association Anthem Homes, part of Walsall Housing Group (WHG).
The Lockside project on Green Lane is backed by a multi-million-pound grant from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) under its ‘brownfield first’ policy to get former industrial sites developed ahead of green belt land.
The £44m development will see the derelict brought back into economic use, injecting new life and a sense of place into this important canal-side site.
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Remediation work on the 16 acre site is being undertaken by Wolverhampton-based brownfield specialist McAuliffe Group and will take another four months to complete. The programme includes demolition and extensive earthworks, which will prepare the site for house-building to start in December 2020.
The project is expected to take five years to complete, with the first homes predicted to be ready in July 2021.
Walsall councillor Adrian Andrew, deputy leader and portfolio holder for regeneration, said: “This site in Birchills has been derelict for nearly a decade and the intervention of WMCA has led to the clean-up of the site and a partnership with Lovell and whg to build over 250 homes, demonstrating our commitment to developing brownfield land first. This multi-million-pound investment is a huge boost to Birchills and the wider borough creating homes and jobs.”
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