Developers behind three schemes, worth a combined £450 million, that will transform Derby have given a huge vote of confidence to the city’s ability to bounce back following the Coronavirus pandemic.
Directors of the three companies, Compendium, St James Securities Group and Wavensmere Homes who will, together, create hundreds of homes, shops, restaurants and offices, say they remain committed to their investments despite global financial turbulence caused by the current health crisis.
The endorsements come from developers including those working on projects with links to D2N2 including the Becketwell (St James Securities Group) and Castleward (Compendium Living) regeneration schemes.
D2N2 has allocated £8.1 million to the redevelopment of the Becketwell site subject to the approval of a final business case.
When complete, the former Debenhams store and Duckworth Square shopping centre site will hundreds of homes, offices, restaurants, and cafes around a new public square at Becketwell.
Castleward is a committed scheme on the D2N2 Pipeline and will be presented for approval at the June Investment Board.
Becketwell Scheme
The confidence of the developers in the underlying strength of Derby’s economy is a huge boost following the news that the city’s largest private-sector employer, Rolls-Royce, is to make thousands of redundancies across its global workforce.
It is not yet known how many of those will be in Derby.
Managing director of St James Securities, Oliver Quarmby said: “We have been working up our regeneration proposals at Becketwell for two years now. The city and its council are fully supportive of the proposals which now, more than ever, are vital to promote and support a significant and sustained resurgence of the city centre.”
“We fully believe the fundamentals exist for a strong and confident recovery.”
Dave Bullock, managing director of Compendium Living said: “We are looking forward to continuing our investment in this great city over the coming years and to supporting its success.”
St James Securities secured outline planning permission for its scheme in February. The plans could create up to 2,700 jobs.
Derby City Council leader and D2N2 Board member Chris Poulter welcomed the developers’ continued commitment to the city: “We know that sections of the economy are suffering badly because of Coronavirus and the resultant lockdowns. We are working hard to support Rolls-Royce, its workers and other businesses who are victims of a crisis that was not of their making,”
“We remain confident in the underlying strength of our city and that Derby will emerge from this challenge as, still, a great place to live, work and invest.”
