Miller Developments and The Royal Bank of Scotland joint venture Omega Warrington and landowner English Partnerships have submitted an outline planning application for the first two phases of the £1Bn Omega development at Warrington.
The scheme is located on a 226-hectare site on the former Burtonwood Air base next to the M62.
When completed the Omega site will feature 687,476sq m of offices, manufacturing, technology, distribution, live/work units, leisure/ancillary retail, hotel and conference facilities, although the bulk of the site is likely to incorporate office space. However, the first two phases comprise 167,225sq m of industrial and distribution space to the north of the site and 130,063sq m of office accommodation to the south.
It is anticipated that phases 1 and 2 will be developed over a ten-year period and could also include some leisure and ancillary retail space to meet the needs of occupiers, although this will be demand led and would be subject to a further planning application.
Andrew Sutherland, director of Miller Developments, comments: “Omega will be developed over the next 25 to 30 years to become one of Europe’s largest and most important regeneration schemes, providing in excess of 24,000 direct jobs. The submission of the planning application marks the end of over 18 months of extensive consultation but is really only the first step in realising the potential that Omega presents for the North-west and the UK.”
Sutherland continues: “The support we’ve had from the general public, the council and the local regeneration bodies has been fantastic and we hope to receive consent during the first quarter of 2004. This would enable us to start on the site by the end of next year.”
GVA Grimley and Jones Lang LaSalle are joint agents for the scheme.
