Award for The Castlefields Regeneration Partnership... Castlefields Partnership member CDS Housing fronted a winning application for the RBS Best Partnership Project award at the Daily Post & Echo Regional Property Awards 2006. The winning development, a striking scheme of mixed tenure housing at Waterbridge Mews, Runcorn, is a major feather in the cap of the Castlefields Partnership which is spending over £70 million to regenerate the Runcorn New Town estate. The award was presented by designer and urban regeneration champion Wayne Hemingway at Liverpool’s Crowne Plaza hotel on Monday, 3 April 2006.

The £5.3m development at Waterbridge Mews provides 58 affordable new homes right next to the Bridgewater Canal on a site formerly owned by co-partners Halton Borough Council, 30 for shared ownership and 28 for rent. All the shared ownership apartments sold within months of going on the market, many to local people keen to invest in the area. The properties to rent are managed by CDS and have provided new homes for people moving out of deck access flats.

Clare Budden, Managing Director for CDS, told us: “We are delighted to win this award as it recognises both the quality of this development and the strong relationship we have with partners and residents. Waterbridge Mews has really helped local people to get a foot on the property ladder. PLUS and CDS are strongly committed to providing affordable home ownership solutions.”

Waterbridge Mews forms part of the Castlefields Regeneration Masterplan. Partners include Halton Borough Council, CDS Housing, English Partnerships, and the Housing Corporation, The award recognises the effective way in which the partnership delivered the project, and the way in which local people were involved in the development process as well as the high quality of design.

Cllr. Rob Polhill, Halton Borough Council's Executive Board Member for Planning, Transportation and Urban Renewal, was thrilled at the award. "The regeneration of Castlefields was a massive scheme for the Partners to take on. This award recognises that we are doing it in the right way, and providing a quality legacy for the future."

The Daily Post & Echo Regional Property Awards are sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and are designed to celebrate the regeneration of Merseyside. Judges included Councillor Beatrice Fraenkel, Andrew Thomas from the Centre of Construction Innovation and Dominic Wilkinson, regional director of RIBA (the Royal Institute of British Architects).

Representatives of CDS, English Partnerships and Halton Borough Council are joined by architect Paul Moscedini in receiving the Partnership Regeneration Award. HBC was represented by Chris Leyshon (Castlefields Regeneration Manager, standing second from the right) and Derek Sutton (Operational Director, standing far right). Posted on April 10, 2006