Wilson Bowden Plc receives Ravenscraig go-ahead

Wilson Bowden plc, the national house builder and property developer, has today received two key approvals which enable the regeneration of the Ravenscraig steelworks site to go-ahead. First, the Scottish Executive has approved an amendment to the structure plan which gives town-centre status to part of the Ravenscraig site. Second, the Executive has decided not to call-in the planning application. This means that the next phase of work can begin.

Wilson Bowden is working with joint venture partners Corus plc and Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire.

Commenting on this development, Ian Robertson, CEO of Wilson Bowden says, 'I am delighted that the Scottish Executive has given the green light to the proposals for the regeneration of Ravenscraig. We are very much aware that in undertaking this proposal we will be developing one of the UK´s most important Brownfield sites. The structure plan amendment is important because it confers town centre status on Ravenscraig. This will restore much needed momentum and credibility to the project, something that is vitally important in attracting world-wide interest to the project and to delivering a world-class solution.'

“Ravenscraig will ultimately include over 3,500 new homes, 1 million sq. ft. of retail and leisure facilities in a new town centre, and 2 million sq. ft. of industrial and business space. Even more importantly for North Lanarkshire the redevelopment of Ravenscraig should deliver around 12,000 jobs and over £1bn of investment over the 20 years of the project, in addition to providing a significant boost to local and national tax revenues.'

“It has been a long hard road getting to this stage and has taken much hard work and effort by Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Council as well as the Wilson Bowden team. We at Wilson Bowden look forward eagerly to the day we can start work on site and let the residents of North Lanarkshire and the former employees of Ravenscraig see all that work crystallized into actual development on the ground.”

Source: Wilson Bowden