Wirral Waters is a large scale £4.5bn development currently being built by the

Peel Group The Peel Group is a British infrastructure and property investment business, based in Manchester. In 2022, its Peel Land and Property estate extends to of buildings, and over of land and water. Peel retains minority stakes in its former ports ...

for

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

, on the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is the sister programme of the

Liverpool Waters Liverpool Waters is a large scale £5.5bn development that has been proposed by the Peel Group in the Vauxhall, Liverpool, Vauxhall area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The development will make use of a series of presently derelict dock sp ...

project. Since 2012 the two projects have enjoyed enterprise zone status, together forming the Mersey Waters Enterprise Zone.

Design

The original plans intended for the creation of of modern office space at the East Float and

Vittoria Dock Vittoria Dock is a dock in Birkenhead, Wirral Peninsula, England. It was built between 1904 and 1908, from land reclaimed during the construction of the Great Float. History The dock was designed by Anthony George Lyster. Construction began i ...

. A central part of the early designs were the creation of a series of towers that were to provide space for a waterfront hotel, bars, restaurants, other leisure facilities and 15,000 apartments. Three of the towers were intended to achieve fifty storeys. One of the landmark developments in the scheme was to be the creation of a £175m 'International Trade Cenre'. This facility was to allow companies from countries in Asia to exhibt and sell their goods and services into Europe. Further development was proposed at the site of the former

Bidston Dock Bidston Dock was a Dock (maritime), dock at Birkenhead, in England. It was situated to the west of the Great Float, between Bidston and Poulton, Merseyside, Poulton. History A proposal for the construction of the dock on most of what remained ...

, close to the

M53 motorway The M53 is an motorway in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and Cheshire on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It is also referred to as the Mid Wirral Motorway. It runs between the Kingsway Tunnel, at Wallasey in the north, and the A55 at ...

and the Kingsway road tunnel to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. This was to encompass an additional of retail and leisure facilities. The architectural practice

Broadway Malyan Broadway Malyan is a global architecture, urbanism and design practice. It was established in 1958 by architects Cyril Broadway anJohn Malyan Among its incorporated businesses globally, it owns or is closely associated with the English incorpora ...

were employed by Peel to be responsible for the overall design of the development. It was estimated by the developers that the scheme may lead to the creation of over 27,000 permanent jobs. A plan was announced in February 2013, intending to redevelop part of the abandoned

Birkenhead Dock Branch Birkenhead Dock Branch is a disused railway line running from the South junction of Rock Ferry, to the site of the former Bidston Dock on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The branch is approximately in length. Although called a branch, the l ...

route, to run a streetcar system, to be known as

Wirral Street Car The Wirral Street Car is a proposed tramway from Bidston Dock to Woodside Ferry Terminal to provide transport links for the Wirral Waters development. The line will use pre-existing rolling stock as well as incorporating both the disused Birkenh ...

. The plan involves connecting Wirral Waters to the

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...

network at Birkenhead North and

Hamilton Square Hamilton Square is a town square in Birkenhead, Wirral, England. This Georgian square, which was designed by Edinburgh architect James Gillespie Graham, has the most Grade I listed buildings outside London (after Trafalgar Square). It is named ...

stations, utilising the stretch of dock branch trackbed along Beaufort Road and Corporation Road, with inner and outer loops around

and East Float, respectively. Options to connect this new system to Conway Park and

Birkenhead Park Birkenhead Park is a major public park located in the centre of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and opened on 5 April 1847. It is generally acknowledged as the first publicly funded civic park in the world. Th ...

stations are also available, along with a further extension for the

Wirral Tramway Wirral Tramway is a heritage tramway opened in 1995 by the Wirral Borough Council and Hamilton Quarter partnership and was operated by Blackpool Transport Services until 2005 when the council took over the licence to run the tramway. The ...

Seacombe Seacombe () is a district of the town of Wallasey, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively, Seacombe is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was pa ...

ferry terminal.

History

Building under construction, Egerton Dock, Birkenhead

The scheme was revealed to the public in September 2006, after 18 months of design, whilst at a consultative stage. Local councillors welcomed the proposals. Peel intended to submit proposals to the

Wirral Council Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council, or simply Wirral Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in Merseyside and one of 36 in the metropolit ...

by Christmas 2008, however, this process took longer and it was not until the second half of 2010 that approval was given by Wirral Council's Planning Committee and, later on, the government. On 6 January 2011,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

together with

Lord Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician and businessman. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Heseltine served ...

met with members of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council who were given a presentation of the scheme, followed by a tour of the site. Plans were submitted that year for the International Trade Centre, with the project to take place with Chinese investors. In April 2014,

Wirral Metropolitan College Wirral Met College is a Further and Higher Education College situated on the Wirral Peninsula, in the north-west of England. Overview Wirral Met is the largest provider of post 16 learning on the Wirral and is divided into five career-based ...

announced plans for a new campus for building and construction. The new facility opened in September 2015. Plans were submitted for a office building at Tower Wharf, in May 2014. The building was completed in 2015 and became the new headquarters of a call centre. In June 2015, Peel announced it was pulling out of its joint venture with proposed Chinese partner Sam Wa for the development of the cornerstone International Trade Centre. It was announced in November 2016 that Wirral Waters had been made one of six new 'Housing Zones' and could apply for a share of £18 million of government funding designed to speed up the construction of large scale housing developments. Work is expected to begin in the summer of 2018 on a £25 million maritime training and business hub. The hub will be located in the old Victorian pumping house situated by Alfred Dock within the development. At the 2018 MPIM Global Property Expo in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

, three schemes to develop over 1,000 homes were announced. The schemes consist of a 'dementia care village', 347 modular homes and 500 apartments. The development, known as 'Miller`s Quay', will consist of 500 apartments started work in the summer of 2022. A-grade office space was completed in 2021 with the opening of the Hythe Building. The first tenant, a modular housing provider, moved into the facility in 2022.

References

External links

Official site
{{Birkenhead docks Birkenhead docks Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in Merseyside Proposed populated places in the United Kingdom The Peel Group Metropolitan Borough of Wirral