English Cities Fund (ECf) is celebrating with an impressive four awards attained at its schemes across the country.  ECf, a joint venture between Muse Developments, Legal and General and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is currently developing schemes in Plymouth, Canning Town, Salford, Liverpool and Wakefield.

The Millbay scheme in Plymouth has been successful in the recent Building for Life awards led by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and the Home Builders Federation.  The first phase, ‘Cargo’ was been singled out as one of the top ten best new developments in the UK and was the only scheme in Devon and Cornwall to be given a 2010 Award.

Cargo has also been successful in being highly commended in the UK Property Award in the ‘Best Development’ category.  The UK Property Awards (once the Daily Mail awards) are the world’s most prestigious property competition dedicated to finding the best real estate professionals across the globe. 

All homes at the Cargo scheme are now sold and ECf has recently unveiled plans for the next phase of development at Millbay, which features a mix of 48 houses and apartments with associated parking and ground floor commercial space.

Further north, the £140 million Merchant Gate scheme in Wakefield won the ‘Large Development of the Year’ and English Cities Fund won the ‘Developer of the Year’ accolade at the 2010 Excellence Awards organised by Premier Guarantee.  The awards are designed to recognise the very best of the UK housing and construction market and inspire others to build outstanding developments to the highest quality.  ECf recently completed phase one of the scheme to provide 66 contemporary apartments, 35,000 sq ft of retail, leisure and public open space, 48,000 sq ft of grade ‘A’ office space and a new multi-storey car park.

Mike Swatton, business development director from Premier Guarantee said: “We’ve received our highest number of entries this year and the standard has been nothing short of exceptional.  Our judges were very impressed with the site at Merchant Gate - the quality of construction and attention to detail was outstanding.”

2011 is set to be a busy year for the developer with the final phase of its St Paul’s Square scheme in Liverpool due to be completed in May, and further progress at its Salford Central scheme and Rathbone Market, Canning Town.   The next phase of development at Merchant Gate is well under way and further progress at Millbay including the announcement of a marina operator, is soon to be announced. 

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