Developer BXB (Cowley Hill) awards £6m contract to kick-start work on a £200m Liverpool city region development that will eventually see 1,100 new homes. Tony McDonough reports

Enabling works are to start on a new spine road into a £200m development that will lead to the construction of 1,100 new homes and 200,000 sq ft of commercial space.

In April BXB (Cowley Hill), a joint venture between BXB Land Solutions and Promenade Estates, secured a £10m grant from City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, a pot of £710m set aside for major transport infrastructure projects across Liverpool city region.

Cowley Hill in St Helens was once one of the town’s largest glass works and is now the city’ region’s biggest brownfield site. The western part of Cowley Hill Works has been retained by glassmaker Pilkington and remains in operation.

BXB has now awarded a £6m contract to DB Remediation. It is set to begin work at the end of June, completing the job at the end of June 2026.

This new road will run from north to south through the site, from Washway Lane to College Street, and includes junction improvements at each end that will support new active travel routes.

DB Remediation is already active on the site and undertook an engineering-led package of works that facilitated the sale of the first residential phase to affordable housing provider Torus, which plans to build 200 new homes.

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We are moving at pace and will keep our foot on the gas,” said Gary Goodman, land director at BXB. “Negotiations will shortly conclude with a main contractor for the actual road.

“But this early appointment enables us to offer housing developers certainty around plot availability and will give Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and St Helens Council a clearer sight of when housing units will be delivered.”

Masterplan for the site was devised by architects Brock Carmichael, with CPC appointed as project managers and Gardner & Theobold as cost consultants. Solicitors Hill Dickinson advised on the contractual terms for the agreement with DB Remediation.