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Developers working on Derby's major building projects have vowed to forge ahead with their plans in spite of the national economic slump which has affected the Riverlights scheme.
Despite a reduction in the availability of loans - the credit crunch - developers say projects which have already begun, such as the £25m Jury's Inn Hotel and £30m development of Full Street, will still be built according to schedule.
FULL STREET DEVELOPMENT
Graeme Cosgrove, development director for Wilson Bowden, which has planning permission to build apartments, cafes, restaurants, and shops in Full Street, said its target completion date of early 2010 still looked likely.
He said: "We will start building on time in mid-summer. We can't start until the conditions of our planning permission have been finalised. We've got to be mindful of the economic conditions when we timetable work. It's still tough for everybody but as things stand the credit crunch is not going to affect our plans."
KING STREET APARTMENTS
A potential threat to a scheme to build 40 apartments in King Street has been averted. Nottingham builder Thomas Fish & Sons went into administration because of a £1.4m unpaid bill. But Ilkeston millionaire Chek Whyte took over Thomas Fish and promised the scheme, on behalf of the Metropolitan Housing Trust, would go ahead on time.
JURY'S INN
John Cadwallader, chief executive of Derby Cityscape, said the 226-bedroom Jury's Inn in King Street was on target for completion in spring 2009.
He said: "Projects like this don't get slowed down, because they have big financial backing pre-arranged. Major developers have arrangements with the likes of Jury's where all the risks will have been analysed to the nth degree and budgeted for."
BOLSTERSTONE OFFICES/ ST JAMES'S YARD SHOPS
The £36m Bolsterstone development and a new precinct of 16 shops and boutiques in St James' Yard, off Sadler Gate, do not have scheduled completion dates.
Duncan Grant, development director for Bolsterstone, said no timetable had been set for the office block because planning conditions had not been finalised by Derby City Council. He added that the credit crunch would be taken into consideration when setting a completion date but that was not his main concern.
Mr Grant said: "A bigger issue that we have to factor in is that we have to pay 100% tax on office rental. This could mean paying up to £400,000 a year on empty units.
"We can't set a final date until our planning conditions have been sorted out but if we did need to start the project now we could put our hands on the money to do it, credit crunch or not. Once we have started, the offices would take a year to build."
Andrew Bock, development director at Clowes, the company which wants to build in St James's Yard, agreed that it would be foolhardy to ignore the credit crunch but that it was not a prime concern.
Mr Bock said his company wanted to see an improvement in Cathedral Quarter sales before building could start on its development, which will cost between £10m and £11m.
He said: "We were hoping to see construction start in March last year but with Westfield coming we could see there was going to be a problem with retail in Derby. The project is ready to start when things improve. This could happen when Primark opens. I'm optimistic about starting the project within two years."
DERBY COLLEGE'S PRIDE PARK CAMPUS
A Derby College spokeswoman said its £36m project to build a new engineering and technology campus at Pride Park was on schedule to finish in early 2009.
She said funding could not be affected by the credit crunch because it had been secured through a Government grant.
CITY GATE HOUSE
Cedar House Investments, the company behind plans for City Gate House, a £15m, 60,000 sq ft, five-storey office development being built behind the Joseph Wright Sixth Form Centre, says work is due to start shortly. Cedar House describes the scheme as "the most significant office development in the city for more than 15 years".
PRINCES SUPERMARKET
The £12m redevelopment of the former Princes supermarket site in Bold Lane will create 25 flats with eco-friendly roof gardens, plus shops, cafes and restaurants. The scheme is being carried out by developer Blueprint. Its managing director, Susan Brown, said work on the first phase, which is over 50% of the scheme, will begin in the autumn and take around 18 months. She said phase two would "definitely go ahead" but because of current market uncertainty could not yet give a time scale. Courtesy of Chris Mallett Derby Evening Telegraph |