The masterplan for a 26-hectare site in Wirral aligns with the emerging local plan and Birkenhead 2040 regeneration strategy, focusing on revitalising brownfield sites. It proposes 1,600 new homes (10 per cent affordable), with car and cycle parking, and complementary uses like shops, cafes, healthcare and offices. The plan includes high-quality public spaces, a new linear community park, a primary school, multistorey car park and a new village square, enhancing the area’s accessibility and sustainability.

 

Who is on the project? 

 

BDP Multidisciplinary services (Architect, Building Services, Lighting, Sustainability, Town Planning)

ION Developments - Developer / Development Manager

Landscape architect Planit-IE

Planning consultant - WSP

Structural engineer - Curtins (including flood and detailed highways)

Quantity surveyor - AA Projects

Principal designer - Curtins

Funding - Homes England/Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

 

Describe the context of this project, its neighbourhood and people. 

 

Hind Street Urban Garden Village is large scale mixed use urban regeneration project in the centre of Birkenhead. Currently, the area is characterised as disused industrial land, compounded by a series of high-level flyovers, connecting into the Queensway Tunnel, providing road access into Liverpool. These structures dominate the landscape, creating a barrier between the site and the town centre, and contribute to a negative first impression of Birkenhead. BDP are appointed by Ion Developments as Masterplanner and Architect, to develop a strategy for reconnecting the uninhabited void within the core of Birkenhead, that has separated the town centre from the waterfront and residential community of Birkenhead for decades. The site currently offers little to no real benefits to the local or wider community of Birkenhead and the Wirral. The proposed masterplan directly responds to the emerging Local Plan and Regeneration Strategy, which is focused on a radical re-use of neglected and brownfield sites and the real benefits it can bring to the Wirral as a whole. We believe that this development creates a forward looking, dynamic new place within Birkenhead, by respecting and building on its unique history. Whilst at the same time reinventing the place, through the lens of high-quality place making, low carbon, high density family living. Dave Hughes, Wirral Council’s Director of Regeneration and Place: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver a truly exemplary Urban Garden Village in Birkenhead, and spread new homes, job opportunities and first-class public realm within a comprehensively designed town centre location".

 

Please describe your approach to this future place and its mix of uses. How will it function as a vibrant place? How does it knit into, and serve the needs of, the wider area?

 

The approach is to transform an unloved and overlooked are of industrial land in Birkenhead into an amazing new green urban village, that with the removal of the flyovers will re-stitch the town together for the first time in 50 years. It will be a unique place to call home, framed in the grid iron plan of Birkenhead and capitalising on heritage and wider views. This will be a place focused on creating high quality contemporary family living, connected to the heart of the town centre, but with a feeling of being distinct and unique afforded by the natural low point in the town and historic boundaries to the railway. Unique place making will be at the heart of the masterplan with two historic public spaces being reintroduced back into the town centre. Central square outside of Birkenhead Central Station and Haymarket at the base of Hamilton Street, were historically important public spaces within Birkenhead, these two spaces will be reinvented and reintroduced into the masterplan, bringing with it new permeability and connections to the wider town centre assets. At the heart of the masterplan is a new village square, at the low point of Birkenhead and capitalising on the sense of containment of the surrounding valley hills. It will act as a place to focus daily life, but also serve as a key point of connection to the heart of Birkenhead’s town centre and amenities on offer.

 

What is the social and environmental impact of the project? For example, how will the carbon use and material impact of the development be mitigated? What is the sustainability strategy?

 

This will be a development that is low carbon at its heart, with streets focused on people and cycles rather than cars. Two train stations, bus routes, and a clear strategy for new sustainable urban drainage and biodiverse rich landscaping will create a place that is truly sustainable and improves the lives of both new and existing residents alike. It incorporates a bespoke sustainability framework, drawing from best practices such as BREEAM and WELL Communities, UKGBC, and LETI guidance, alongside local policies and strategies. This framework aims to address green infrastructure, carbon (embodied and operational), resilience, transport, wellbeing, and innovation. The strategy includes a focus on developing and integrating green infrastructure within the urban design to enhance environmental quality and biodiversity. A new green linear corridor will run the entire eastern section of the masterplan bringing a green active travel route through the scheme, and an exciting new place to walk and cycle in Birkenhead, with multiple links into the new streets and squares that will be created as part of the new urban village. The plan incorporates resilience measures to ensure the development can adapt to changing environmental conditions and challenges. Sustainable transport options are emphasized to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and encourage active travel. The project is expected to generate numerous jobs in both the development, but also by revitalising the town centre, contributing positively to the local economy. The development includes opportunities for shops, cafes/restaurants, healthcare, nursery services, a primary school, offices, care services and hotels.