“Futuristic” plans have been filed to transform a former industrial office complex into a “21st century Port Sunlight” with more than 500 homes.
SOG Group wants to redevelop the 57-acre Heath Business and Technical Park (BTP) in Runcorn as “Heath Park”, and has now submitted a planning application to Halton Borough Council following three years of research. The company said the project would involve adapting the existing business and science park into an eco-village featuring 545 net zero homes including 59 senior living and extra care flats, commercial use properties such as a hotel and for leisure use, a 55,000 sq ft state-of-the-art vertical farm powered by hydrogen, and 20,000 sq ft of retail space.
An SOG spokesman said the masterplan has been developed in consultation with Halton Council’s planning department and grew out of a global competition that challenged architects, designers and planners to create a “sustainable futuristic environment”. Design criteria stipulated it must be powered by renewable energy and a place where "people can live, work and play".
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The spokesman said that pending planning permission the mixed-use development would constitute a “unique residential, business, science, leisure, community and commercial venture, built around sound ecological values, in a net zero carbon environment”, with a focus on its “Field of the Future” vertical farm producing healthy, net zero fresh food.
The eco-village's ethos was inspired by Port Sunlight on the Wirral, which was built by Viscount Leverhulme for his soap workers in the 1800s as a reaction to the "appalling" living conditions of the era.
Announcing the plan's submission, John Lewis MBE, SOG’s owner and managing director, said: “We now have an extraordinary and visionary scheme to meet the challenges of climate change, which addresses the predicted trends for future living including employment, housing, leisure, community, transport and energy consumption.
“Our masterplan has taken more than three years of meticulous research by SOG’s dedicated team of expert consultants, who have worked with leading academics from Lancaster and Liverpool universities, to produce an exceptional application to put before the planners.”
On Friday, Mr Lewis briefed Halton MP Derek Twigg on the blueprints shortly before they were submitted to Halton Council for consideration and public consultation.
The spokesman said Mr Twigg welcomed the project as “really important in terms of the future of Runcorn” and was pleased with the use of technology such as vertical farming and 100% renewable energy including sourced from the HyNet hydrogen network.
Mr Lewis added: “Heath Park is a scheme that meets the challenges of the future through the creation of a sustainable environment where families can live, work and play.
“It is a realistic and commercially viable venture with existing buildings to be repurposed alongside the new development, with health, wellbeing, and clean energy central to everything.”
The businessman said the masterplan has been designed to meet the five-star Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) and to achieve “outstanding” Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) credentials.
He said: “Heath Park is intended to be a vibrant new centre with accessible services including shops, restaurants, bars, leisure, arts and medical facilities that will be complemented by parkland and wooded areas for relaxation and recreation.
“We’re particularly excited by the vertical farming element of our plans where our ‘Field of the Future’ model will see a world-leading vertical farm at the heart of the community.
"This will be powered by hydrogen from the HyNet hydrogen pipeline network, and for the first time realise the aim of producing net zero food.
“This is a genuinely pioneering vertical farming model which evolved from a world-first pilot study undertaken at The Heath by leading academics and industry experts.
“It promises to revolutionise existing vertical farming technology with a model that can be replicated globally.”
SOG’s spokesman said the firm is in discussions with some of the world’s biggest investment and real estate groups as it seeks to finance the project, triggering interest from around the globe.
The Department for International Trade (DIT) is also promoting the development via its 2022 global Investment Atlas with an estimated project value of £190m, and completion estimate of five years.
The DIT branded Heath Park an “ambitious mixed-use development with sustainability, clean energy, and net zero at its core”.
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