Major brownfield regeneration drives future community

Anchorwood Bank - Engineering Services

Development Securities, in a joint venture with Wessex Investors, appointed out team to undertake a due diligence exercise on a 39-acre (16-hectare) former industrial site. The site benefited from an extant consent for retail use, and the joint venture was seeking consent for a supermarket, retail park, and residential development.

Our due diligence identified the technical challenges and constraints of the site, informing the strategy required for each phase of the proposed development. Of particular note was the importance of protecting an immediately adjacent Site of Special Scientific Interest and County Wildlife Site.

Following our initial due diligence, we supported the joint venture team in obtaining full planning consent for an Asda superstore and outline consent for residential and retail park aspects. We delivered pre-planning services across all disciplines to support the hybrid application. Following planning consent under Phase 1, we supported the detailed design phase for the site utilities and access, enabling works platform for site servicing, and the flood defense around the site.

We were subsequently appointed to work on the residential elements of Phase 2 with North Devon Homes, and by Wessex Investors for the retail park. This included 172 new builds, comprising one-bedroom homes through to five-bedroom homes, and the development of retail space.

For Phase 3, we delivered planning support to continue the regeneration of the site with further residential development and community space. It also included the conversion of the historic and Grade II listed Oliver Buildings, which are key to the completion of the scheme. We provided full multidisciplinary support from feasibility, including structural condition surveys, through to planning submission.

Fronting the River Taw, this 160,000-square-metre (1,722,223-square-foot) mixed-use scheme has brought employment, housing, and economic development to this area of North Devon to create a sense of community and place.