The site lies in Wigan near Manchester in the North of England.
It is old industrial weaving Mill from the late nineteenth century. It is made up of a large warehouse building that is finished with lovely brickwork detailing. The buildings are surrounded by a number of smaller related industrial buildings including a huge chimney stack.
All the buildings are listed and this has created many challenges for us. There was a previous scheme that was submitted to planning for 280 houses on the site. It involved partially demolishing the weaving sheds and infilling houses between. During the recession the application was abandoned and so when we took it on board it had no consent. Wemet with the head of planning and agreed a way forward that involved removing completely some of the waving sheds and restoring the others. We developed a masterplan for the site that massively improved the viability of the scheme by raising the density of houses to the north of the site and preserving more of the mill structure to the south.
We have thus far submitted two pre-application schemes for the site. The planning officers have been extremely supportive of the scheme and our approach. We will shortly be submitting a full application for the site.
