CITY LIFE IS LOOKING UP
Cranes on Preston’s skyline point to the continued rise of its city living strategy and the growth of residential investment.
Construction work on what will be the city’s tallest apartment block to date is well advanced. The 16-storey Bhailok Court development will deliver 200 flats near to the city’s iconic bus station.
North West based The Heaton Group, which has a reported development portfolio of more than £50m, is behind the two-tower scheme on the site of the former employment exchange.
It is also delivering Bishopgate Gardens, a 130-apartment converted office block scheme that sits close to the city’s markets and the emerging Harris Quarter.
Meanwhile the vision of a new vibrant ‘urban village’ in the heart of Preston is being supported by more proposals to deliver high quality housing.
City based architecture practice FWP has drawn up plans for 52 apartments on two currently underused sites in the Stoneygate regeneration area.
The Chadderton Court proposals include a contemporary 14-storey building with a rooftop garden. The scheme by developer Premier Sagar would also see the construction of a five- storey apartment building on a nearby site.
Preston’s growing ‘city living’ strategy aims to transform its centre and inner suburbs into a series of vibrant and popular neighbourhoods. Stoneygate, which includes an historic area around St John’s Minster, covers around 25 hectares and collectively represents one of the largest regeneration opportunities in the city centre.
A framework adopted in 2020 set out a long- term vision for the area to attract investment and realise its potential and includes the creation of an ‘urban village’.
Adrian Phillips, chief executive of the city council, says the city living strategy has been mainly pitched at young professionals with the aim of retaining people who have been educated in Preston. The message, he adds, is you don’t have to go to Manchester to enjoy the city living experience.
He says: “You get a far better apartment in Preston with everything within easy walking distance and far better value.
“Having a vibrant city living strategy is something the council set out to do a number of years ago, an award-winning strategy. We can see the investment The Heaton Group and others are making in the city centre, and that is a success.”
David Cox, who heads city-based David Cox Architects, also believes the city living strategy is working. He says: “The Heaton Group has got a couple of hundred flats on the market and I know that other architects and developers in the city have some really significant projects coming online.
“Manchester has been building 15,000 of them per year for the last 20 years. There’s a huge amount of headroom in this city for that product, and that speaks to the retention of graduates.”
However, he believes there is more work to do. He says: “We’re looking at the investment boxes, which the graduates love, but we’re not looking at providing any family housing in the city centre and that would be Preston’s differentiation from Manchester, its intimacy and its attractiveness for families. But we need to get the product.”
Michael Conlon chairs Preston headquartered building firm Conlon Construction and believes building good schools in the city centre rather than the outskirts would help attract more families.
He is also concerned that some buildings in the heart of the city are becoming almost derelict and in need of attention and investment. Michael says: “The thing is, all the buildings can be repurposed. It’s not beyond the wit of man.”
Adrian says he recognised the “gap” that exists around high-quality family accommodation in the city centre and adds the council is working on bridging it in the Stoneygate plan, with housing associations and Homes England.
He says: “It is a challenge because there is a viability gap.” However, he adds: “We expect a range of family accommodation within Stoneygate to be possible in the next few years.”
Amid all the city living talk, Andrew Atkinson, managing director of Fairhaven Housing,
believes not enough is being done to deliver housing in Preston city centre for people of a retirement age. And he says that is a situation that must be addressed.
He says: “The biggest change in Preston’s demographics over the next 15 years is people aged 65-plus. It is a huge, untapped market.
“Supplying age targeted housing enables people to stay in the communities where they want to live, it creates huge capacity within the housing market which enables people to move up the chain, and it also provides spending in local areas.
“There are also benefits to social care, benefits to healthcare. It needs to part of the mix, there has to be an offer.”
However, Adrian says: “I think the offer is there and it works in the city centre. It can work for young graduates, young people before they have families and it works for those who are retired.”
Rob Binns, who owns the Cotton Court business centre in the city and chairs Downtown in Business in the county, recognises the importance of the city living strategy to Preston’s retention plans.
But he says for that to have an impact, young people need to be able to develop their careers in the city and that requires larger organisations and businesses to be based in Preston to offer those opportunities and “high quality roles”.
Russell Millhouse, head of external and public affairs at UCLan, believes Preston has a “fantastic collegiate spirit” and he says the “building blocks” for its future success are already in place.
Liz Tapner is chief executive of Lancashire’s social enterprise network Selnet, which is based in the city. Part of its work is to help disadvantaged, marginalised and long-term unemployed people start their journey towards employment by improving their skill sets. She says: “We can’t ignore them. They need our help.”
As businesses and council leaders work to deliver their ambitious development and investment plans, she urges them not to forget what she calls these “home-grown Preston people”. “I work with Preston people,” she says: “Just don’t leave the Prestonians behind.”
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