Taylor Grange and Lovell partner on former Griffin Foundry site
Birmingham-based developer Taylor Grange and Lovell have agreed a partnership to develop 234 homes at a former foundry in Oldbury, in the Black Country.
They will develop the £45m scheme on the site of the Griffin Foundry, after several attempts at a retail-led scheme, most recently from Hammerson.
Taylor Grange bought the 16-acre unconsented site, known as the Junction, from Hammerson last summer and has spent the past six months working up plans for the scheme. Remediation is expected to take a year, with the first homes due in 2021.
Birmingham-based developer Taylor Grange and Lovell have agreed a partnership to develop 234 homes at a former foundry in Oldbury, in the Black Country.
They will develop the £45m scheme on the site of the Griffin Foundry, after several attempts at a retail-led scheme, most recently from Hammerson.
Taylor Grange bought the 16-acre unconsented site, known as the Junction, from Hammerson last summer and has spent the past six months working up plans for the scheme. Remediation is expected to take a year, with the first homes due in 2021.
The scheme will comprise 50% affordable housing, providing shared ownership and affordable rented homes. It is the first partnership between Taylor Grange Developments and Lovell, and the duo are in talks on a number of future schemes.
The site was previously home to the Hunt Brother’s Griffin Foundry, established in the 19th century. Hammerson had previously gained consent for a 116,000 sq ft retail park of 11 units in 2016, after acquiring the site in a portfolio four years earlier. But it ditched the development, opting to ready the site for resi as demand in the region picked up.
Development requires significant upfront costs for remediation. Lovell was the first partner of the West Midlands Combined Authority Single Commissioning Framework, targeting 4,000 homes on stalled brownfield sites.
Sam Ginda, chief operating officer at Taylor Grange Developments said: “This gateway site has been sitting idle for over 10 years.
“There is a lot of pressure mounting on local authorities to bring forward very limited brownfield stock. This partnership is enabling the delivery of much-needed homes in Sandwell and the West Midlands.”
Taylor Grange has a pipeline of 5,500 homes across the Black Country. It is also developing a £280m city centre resi skyscraper in Birmingham at The Square, Birmingham’s first “slender high-rise” also on Broad Street and a number of BTR schemes in Digbeth and the Gun Quarter.
Taylor Grange was advised by Highgate Land and Development in its acquisition of the site. Cushman & Wakefield advised Hammerson.
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