Liverpool Live

Proposals for a contemporary apartment development in the Anfield area of Liverpool are up and running following the submission of a detailed application in late September. MAZE is working on behalf of local developer, Hunter Dean Developments Ltd, to take the scheme forward.

The site has a chequered planning history. It has benefited from an outline permission for housing, now expired, but Liverpool City Council has refused two subsequent applications for apartment developments of differing scale and design.

The current scheme, designed by PWL Architects, proposes 24 two-bed units which will benefit from secure, concealed undercroft parking and a private urban garden. (www.pwlarchitects.net)

The design is the result of almost 12 months of pre-application negotiation with officers of Liverpool City Council.

Applying Ourselves in Bradford

The prospects of a major employment development in Thornton, Bradford, have moved a step closer to realisation with the submission of a planning application by MAZE on behalf of a private client.

The scheme will bring forward almost 26,000sqm of office, industrial and warehousing space on a long-standing development plan allocation in Thornton, on the western edge of Bradford District. Almost half the proposed space is accounted for by a single large warehouse and distribution unit.

The development solution has had to resolve the presence of major overhead power lines, the need to divert an established public footpath, and challenging site topography.

MAZE is working with Pickles Architects (Huddersfield) to guide the development through the ongoing planning application process.

Maze in Middlewich and Morecambe....

August and September have seen key MAZE-led projects maturing. Major development schemes in Middlewich and Morecambe, both subject to planning applications since the start of the year, are now on the verge of securing formal planning permission.

Proposals by John Radcliffe & Sons for a 4490sqm retail park development in Middlewich, Cheshire, secured Congleton Borough Council's approval in mid-August. The need to agree a development of appropriate quality and the potential affect of the scheme on a number of protected trees on and near the site took time to resolve. A planning agreement to secure funding for local bus accessibility improvements and the detailed wording of planning conditions is all that remains to be settled before the formal consent is issued.

Morecambe Football Club's proposals for a new stadium, and associated hotel and restaurants at Westgate are in similarly good shape. Planning Committee approval was secured on 1st September and the Secretary of State promptly confirmed there would be no need for the application to be called-in for inquiry. Discussions to settle a legal agreement and planning conditions are continuing, covering a broad range of issues including the need to bind the development Travel Plan and Spectator Management Strategy into the permission.

Horsing Around in the Lakes

3 years of negotiation, 2 planning applications and 1 successful appeal mean it's now all systems go for Skiddaw Stud, in the Lake District National Park.

A thriving race horse breeding business situated close to Bassenthwaite in the National Park, needed a Manager and living accommodation but was unable to convince the National Park Authority that permission should be granted for the Manager's house.

MAZE Planning Solutions acted for the business owner throughout and secured permission on 8th July 2008 following an appeal by Hearing conducted just 7 days earlier. The case turned on the National Park Authority's insistence that the owner should give up his own private home of 45 years or allow his proposed Manager to lodge there, because it was located adjacent to the stud and would mean there was no need to build an additional dwelling. Allowing the Appeal, the Inspector judged the Authority's proposition to be 'impracticable and unreasonable'.

[PINS Appeal Reference APP/Q9495/A/08/2062191]

Thornfield Properties on Site in Thornaby

Thornfield Properties has started on site at the Pavilion Shopping Centre in Thornaby Town Centre, Stockon-on-Tees. The 270,000-sq ft refurbishment and new build scheme, anchored by a 100,000-sq ft Asda, will elevate Thornaby into the top 25 centres in the North East.

Thornfield is building a new 103,000-sq ft mall of 21 new units adjacent to the existing mall providing larger units and 80 per cent of the new space is now pre-let. New Look with 10,935 sq ft and Peacocks in 8,500 sq ft will join the line-up of new tenants to the scheme that includes Lidl, Wilkinson and Home Bargains.

MAZE Planning Solutions secured detailed planning permission for the scheme on behalf of Thornfield Properties in late 2004.

Letting Agents: Savills Commercial and Sanderson Weatherall

Architect: The Harris Partnership

Contractor: Miller Construction