Following on from this year’s Liverpool City Region Property Awards, Robyn Hewson caught up with some of the winners to hear how it felt to win and what they’re working on in the year ahead.
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00:00Hi, I'm Steve Parry, I'm the Managing Director of Ion Developments, a Liverpool-based developer.
00:14So, you won Developer of the Year at this year's Liverpool City Region Property Awards.
00:18How did it feel to be awarded that on the 9th?
00:21I think it was a bit of a surprise, to be honest, more than anything else in that we've not really entered any awards for a good long time.
00:28We have made some progress on a number of projects in the last year or so, so we thought it was worth entering and very pleased to win.
00:36Fantastic, and what are some of those key schemes that you're kind of working on at the moment?
00:40So, probably the biggest one in the Liverpool City Region is the development of Hind Street in Birkenhead Town Centre,
00:47which has been something that we've been working on for probably about five or six years now, at least five or six years in fact,
00:53in that we acquired part of the site some years ago and we've been working very closely with Wirralboro Council
01:01and have moved forward with a master plan for the project.
01:04We've got a planning application at the moment, which hopefully will be determined before the end of the year,
01:08but we've also been working with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and also Homes England
01:14and we've put together a funding package to enable the infrastructure and remediation works to take place
01:20and we're hoping to get that on site later, or the middle of next year effectively.
01:24So that's a total of about £50 million in funding, so that's some real progress.
01:29And the site itself is interesting because it's really a new sustainable neighbourhood,
01:35stroke village if you want to call it, a green sustainable neighbourhood.
01:39And it has pretty unique attributes in that it's currently disused gasworks
01:45and the gasworks, we need to move quite a lot of gas equipment off the site
01:48even though the gasworks themselves closed some years ago.
01:51And a lot of remediation because of that, but actually we're building in the first phase about 600 family homes there,
02:00so most of which are single family homes, and a total of 1,600 units in due course.
02:06So you're also shortlisted for Future Ambition this year, so do you want to tell us a little bit about the project there?
02:13So this is an interesting project which is actually a project which is being sponsored by the Merseycare NHS Trust,
02:19which is a mental health trust based in North Liverpool.
02:22And this is pretty unique, and we're acting as a development manager with the trust trying to progress the project.
02:28We're doing a mental health hub, a research hub.
02:32The idea is to bring together particularly digital research and particularly the idea of looking at VR and AI
02:39to advance the faster and better treatments of mental health.
02:44So the building itself is a research hub, and then afterwards that will then trigger the development of an overall mental health science park effectively.
02:54Hi, my name's Hayley and I'm the Communications Officer at the Red Wing Hospital in Jamsfield.
02:59Hi, I'm Ella from Red Wing. I am the Public Health Advisory Board.
03:04So you guys won our Social Impact and Sustainability Award this year.
03:08So you've got to tell us a little bit about the project that won. What does it involve?
03:12The project is a great example of collaboration and partnership between Red Wing residents and the local authority.
03:18We've all come together to help tackle the homeless issue and provide homes to people that are living on the streets or in temporary accommodation.
03:25So the partnership has helped 27 people so far, and we've got 68 properties.
03:35So we're hoping to grow that portfolio by applying for more funding across Liverpool and the North West.
03:40Amazing. So what's the sort of long-term goal for this project?
03:43So the long-term goal would be for Red Wing and residents to keep on applying for more funding to help people across Liverpool and across the North West
03:52that are experiencing homelessness and trying to tackle the crisis.
03:56But the long-term vision as well is for Red Wing to work with housing first to help manage some tenancies
04:02and help people live in residence properties and then go into permanent housing
04:07so that we can re-let and help more people as part of their properties too.
04:11So how did it feel to win the Social Impact Award this year?
04:14Winning the award was just a fantastic feeling.
04:17We've all seen the transition of our tenants from when they first moved in to months down the line
04:22when they completely changed everything around.
04:23It was fantastic to win an award for obviously doing so well and making a positive impact
04:28but as well to recognise what we are doing is great for everyone and put more eyes on it really.
04:33Fantastic. And then what's the focus for residents in Red Wing and the year ahead?
04:38The year ahead is to continue to fill in the 68 properties that we are planning to help house.
04:44Once housed, it's to keep the tenants in there for a short while
04:47so that they can maintain the tenancy and promote the possible permanent accommodation
04:51and start the process again.
04:53Hello, I'm Remy Smith. I'm the Associate Director at Abeson Young's Local Office.
04:58I'm Joel Lawson. I'm a Director at Abeson Young in our Place Development Consultancy team.
05:04So congratulations are in order as you won our Consultancy of the Year
05:07at this year's Liverpool City Region Property Awards.
05:10So how did it feel to win?
05:11We were absolutely delighted.
05:13There was real tough competition across this category
05:17and we were delighted that our key stakeholders, clients and colleagues
05:23have recognised us as the Property Consultancy of the Year.
05:27As a small office, it's great to see that we're recognised as a key delivery
05:33across the Liverpool City Region and we look to continue to do this in the coming years.
05:39Brilliant and it's been quite a busy year for you guys.
05:42What's been some of the key highlights over the last year that you've worked on?
05:46I think in terms of recent instructions.
05:50We've obviously recently been appointed by the City Council as their Strategic Property Partner
05:56to a wide mandate that covers a full range of activities including strategic advice,
06:04providing capacity to the Council's existing property team
06:09as well as core services as and when they need it.
06:12And then what sort of exciting things are coming up in the pipeline for Absentium going forward?
06:17It's great news that we're actually growing our office.
06:20We've welcomed a number of new colleagues who will be helping in delivery of some new schemes.
06:26For example, we're absolutely delighted to be appointed by Scion Tech
06:31working on their portfolio in the Knowledge Quarter.
06:35This is particularly exciting for us because it's a sort of new emerging market.
06:40It's great to work with a client who welcomes inclusive diversity
06:46and is very innovative and forward thinking.
06:49We'll be helping them with their marketing and disposal strategy across their portfolio.
06:54So it's just nice to be working on projects where the new emerging markets
06:58and a really exciting time for Liverpool to be looking in this direction.
07:03Really pleased to have been appointed recently by Captain Centric on Little Buds Building
07:07which is 200,000 square foot of commercial floor space
07:11targeted at the creative, film and media sector.
07:15I don't know what to do with that!