Key partners last night (Tuesday) toasted the substantial completion of a £10 million programme of remediation and site preparation works at the i54 high-quality business park development near Wolverhampton.
The flagship regeneration project is a joint venture between Advantage West Midlands and Wolverhampton City Council, supported by South Staffordshire Council, on a 96-hectare (220 acres) site at Wobaston Road in Pendeford.
Planned to have a direct connection to Junction 2 of the M54 motorway, the scheme is expected to create more than 6,000 jobs by 2020.
The 16-month programme of site preparation work, which is being carried out by Blackwell and supervised by the Mouchel Parkman engineering consultancy, achieved some remarkable statistics in order to produce level development plots, install primary infrastructure including a spine road, drainage systems, site fencing and creation of new wetland ecological habitats:
• 152,000 cubic metres of topsoil has been excavated but all retained within the site. That is equivalent to six million bags of topsoil from a garden centre.
• 190,000 cubic metres of sub-soil and rock have been excavated and re-used within the site. That is enough to raise the height of a football pitch by 25 metres – the height of six double decker buses.
• A 1 kilometre spine road has been constructed and 4.5 kilometres of fencing erected, with a further 3 kilometres still to be installed.
• The ponds and swales which have been created so far as part of the landscaping programme have a combined capacity of approximately 6,500 cubic metres – equivalent to 14 municipal swimming pools.
John Edwards, Chief Executive of Advantage West Midlands, said: “The West Midlands is a world-class region in which to live, work, visit and invest – and at i54 you can see taking shape an excellent example of a flagship development that will transform the economic fortunes of the area region over the next decade, creating new businesses and thousands of new jobs.
“It is also an example of the excellent team work between key partners in the public and private sector who have worked together to acquire, assemble and co-ordinate the remediation of brownfield land which would otherwise remain derelict.
“i54 is now an attractive investment opportunity to the private sector and was showcased at the MIPIM property conference at Cannes in March. Now the site works are completed, we can start an international search later this year to select a top developer to bring forward the next key phase of construction.”
Cllr Peter Bilson, Cabinet Member for Regeneration & Enterprise at Wolverhampton City Council, said: "This is excellent news. Now that preparation works are complete we have a platform for development which will have a tremendous impact on jobs and opportunities for Wolverhampton.
"Investor confidence in the city is very high, as witnessed by developments like Summer Row, the Interchange, Bilston Urban Village and many more. As these projects take shape, so Wolverhampton will continue to strengthen and grow, creating one of the Midlands best choices for lifestyle and enterprise."
Guy Pugh, Director at Blackwell said: “The project presented many construction challenges in the remediation and infrastructure phases which demanded a co-ordinated team effort from the client, consultant and contractor to resolve the construction programme without detrimental delay.”
Ian Parker, Director of Mouchel Parkman, said: “We are pleased to have won the opportunity to provide the engineering design services on the i54 project. Our local regeneration team looks forward to working with Advantage West Midlands and their delivery partners on other projects in the region.”
Simon Pease, of Ancer Spa, the i54 project team’s planning consultants, said: “Completion of the site’s preparation works has coincided with the recent grant of outline planning permission which sets out the type and quality of development that prospective developers must achieve at the next stage.”
The i54 development will have around round 235,000 m2 (c.2.5 million sq ft) of high quality employment floor space including ancillary hotel, retail and leisure floor space.
The project is one of the cornerstone schemes of the Wolverhampton Telford Technology Corridor.