Futuristic vision for park’s transformation
STRIKING plans have been unveiled to create a ‘modernday version of Port Sunlight’ in Runcorn.
The proposals would mean the Heath Business And Technical Park becoming a ‘sustainable and futuristic environment where people can work, live and play’ much like the Wirral village one of the world’s most famous ‘model villages’ for workers.
The plans, set to include hundreds of homes alongside business and community facilities, will be fully unveiled by SOG Group at the MIPIM property festival in Cannes next month.
The firm is owned by businessman John Lewis MBE, who said: “Our vision is to see our location transformed into ‘Heath Park’ which will set the standards for how we should be living and working in decades to come.
“I believe ‘Heath Park’ can become a modernday version of Port Sunlight, the early Victorian example of social and environmental community, created by Lever Brothers for workers from their soap manufacturing plant in North West England.
“I want to see ‘Heath Park’ become a worldleading model of environmental and social excellence which can be replicated elsewhere.
“At MIPIM, my aim is to get the message out to ethical investors that SOG’s site sits within one
Plans have been revealed for a ‘modern-day version of Port Sunlight’ including hundreds of homes alongside businesses and community facilities, at a renowned North West science park of the fastest growing economies in the UK and that we have a brilliant, really cutting-edge concept in which to invest in.”
Mr Lewis said he was particularly interested in ideas ‘which promote health and happiness’, as well as help eradicate loneliness and poverty.
He added: “Over the past 20 years we have taken an ailing industrial site and regenerated it into a thriving business and science centre, and a crucial community asset for Runcorn.
“The Heath Business And Technical Park has been a very successful regeneration project.”
Around 120 individual businesses, from across more than 20 different business sectors, operate at The Heath, but the plans would mean various new development projects on site.
Mr Lewis added: “We are an important employment centre supporting around 2,000 jobs. With the regeneration of The Heath complete, we are perfectly positioned to look to the future and see this location evolve into our ‘Heath Park’ vision, a truly state-of-the-art business, residential and community environment which not only meets the challenges of the future but is a pathfinder for others to follow.”
Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor for Liverpool City Region, said: “SOG’s vision transforming of
The Heath Business And Technical Park into ‘Heath Park’ - a state-of-the-art, sustainable environment in which to live and work - is precisely the kind of inspirational project that aligns with our vision of a growing, dynamic and prosperous Liverpool City Region.
“This beacon project complements Liverpool
City Region’s Local Industrial Strategy while SOG’s intention to target ethical investors for this excellent initiative perfectly aligns with our innovative model of truly inclusive economic growth.
SOG has sponsored a ‘Vision For Future Living’ competition in conjunction with The Royal Institute of British Architects, with the hope of coming up with conceptual ideas that could be adopted into the Heath Park project.
The competition is being judged by a panel of UK architects including Paul Monaghan, Liverpool City Region’s design champion, who will be speaking at SOG’s MIPIM presentation on the Liverpool City Region Stand on March 10.
Mr Lewis added: “SOG has a fantastic track record.
“Only recently we played a leading role in the regeneration of a former pharmaceutical plant in east London where we created the Londoneastuk Business and Technical Park and, working with Barking and Dagenham Council, we were an instrumental partner in attracting over £2bn of inward investment in just over four years.
“I believe that our vision in Runcorn and the results we have delivered in the past make ‘Heath Park’ an attractive and very real proposition for ethical investors.”