The homes are being developed in a joint venture with Magenta Living
Dan Whelan
The developer will pay the North Wales contractor £5.5m to complete a 48-home scheme at Halton Court after the project stalled when its previous contractor Cruden Construction collapsed in July.
Onward Homes claims the site in its current states poses a risk to public safety and therefore urgent groundworks and remediation are required. The works include the repair of walls that “could collapse”, according to a tender document outlining the situation.
The site in Runcorn presents “a significant health and safety risk to residents nearby and other third parties”, Liverpool-based Onward said in the documents.
The affordable homes provider will appoint Anwyl Construction without conducting a procurement process, in order to speed up the remediation.
Onward said that launching a full procurement process for the works would cause “significant delays”, and it had not been able to identify a framework that offers part-completion of a site.
The scheme aims to deliver a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom homes for shared ownership and affordable rent. Onward is delivering the homes in a joint venture with Wirral-based housing association Magenta Living.
Warrington-based Cruden collapsed in July due to losses on several contracts and additional costs caused by project delays arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to its administrator KPMG.
Onward has been contacted for comment.
