Plymouth Millbay

The £300 million regeneration of Millbay will transform a partly redundant and derelict 15 acre harbourside area close to the city centre into an exciting new waterfront community, heralding the latest chapter in the city’s ongoing renaissance.

Plans have been drawn up in collaboration with English Partnerships, local community and business groups, Plymouth City Council, and the South West of England Regional Development Agency to create around two million square feet of floorspace.

An area wide outline planning application should be determined in spring 2007. It is the largest application since that made for post-war reconstruction and mixes new homes with commercial, retail and leisure space to cement Plymouth’s position as one of Europe’s finest waterfront cities. Millbay will include:

• 1,233 flats and houses (of which 25 per cent will be affordable homes)
• 39 live/work units
• 17,700 sq m of retail and leisure floorspace including shops, bars and cafés
• 21,000 sq m of business space
• A tree-lined boulevard connecting Union Street with Millbay
• A new ‘City Square’ at the junction of the Boulevard, Union Street and Western Approach including trees, water features and seating
• A new ‘Harbour Square’ where the Boulevard meets the waterfront, providing access to the water’s edge and surrounded by cafés, bars and restaurants
• Extensive pedestrian areas, walking routes and cycleways
• A new marina with the potential for up to 10,000 sq m of space for marine-related businesses and possible future cruise liner facilities
• New hotel accommodation
• 1,650 off-street car parking spaces
  

A centrepiece of the new scheme is a proposed 18-storey development on Clyde Quay including speciality shops and leisure uses on the ground and first floors, with residential accommodation above and an observation deck on the roof with sweeping views to the open sea and Drake’s Island to the south. Each of the residential buildings will have their own distinctive communal roof garden for the use of all residents. The scheme will also provide full public access to the quayside at Millbay.

An agreement will be entered into with Plymouth City Council to ensure the delivery of extensive community benefits from the scheme. These will include a contribution towards new education facilities in the area, new roads, community spaces and more than 300 units of affordable housing.

Detailed planning permission has been granted for phase one – a mix of 250 homes and business space. Construction began in autumn 2006.

Muse is development partner within ECf, a partnership with English Partnerships and Legal & General created to deliver sustainable regeneration in inner city fringe locations.