The new housing development at Pennington Wharf in Leigh has been given a CEEQUAL award for its pioneering sustainable design.
Andy Burnham MP, Wigan Council members and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) have joined builders Taylor Wimpey and new residents at a presentation in one of the new homes on the site.
The development will create 471 high quality, sustainable and spacious 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes over next 8 years, as well as a range of community buildings, a superb marina, cafe, community centre, office and plans for a family pub and shop. All of the new homes at the unprecedented development will meet strict Code for Sustainable Homes standards, which will lower their environmental footprints and reduce running costs for the homeowners.
The Pennington Wharf site is built on land formerly occupied by Bickershaw colliery, which closed in 1992. The HCA has spent £18m carrying out large scale remediation and infrastructure works, which created a platform for developers. The HCA then worked hard with its stakeholders to ensure a viable scheme was progressed through planning, with consent granted in November 2013.
Deborah McLaughlin, the HCA’s executive director in the North West, said: "I am delighted that Pennington Wharf has won a CEEQUAL award. This success has been achieved through ourselves, Taylor Wimpey and our other partners working together closely to ensure that the development would meet strict sustainability criteria. It is a testament to all of the fantastic work that has been done - thank you to everyone involved, whose effort and attention to detail has achieved these high standards.
Chloe Dunn, associate sales director for Taylor Wimpey Manchester said: "Pennington Wharf has continued to attract interest since we launched in April last year, and this is absolutely a credit to the fantastic range of homes, buying schemes and sustainable attributes which the development boasts.
"We’re thrilled that this has been widely recognised through the CEEQUAL Award, and we look forward to offering more Wigan home-hunters some viable options to progress on the housing ladder as the scheme evolves."