2024 was a landmark year for Peel Waters.

James Whittaker, Managing Director of Peel Waters reflects:

As the calendar year draws to a close, I wanted to take the time to reflect on what has been an important year for our business.

2024 marked the first full year of ‘Peel Waters’ being a standalone business, specialising in waterside regeneration and logistics; and what a landmark year it has been for our team and our partners.

For many years my father has defined The Peel Group motto as ‘D.P.P.’ – Determination, Patience and Perseverance.  18-months into us establishing Peel Waters and reflecting on our portfolio, our pipeline of projects and the fantastic team we have, it made me think about how I would summarise the values of Peel Waters stealing the ‘DPP’ mantra.

Delivery. partnership. pride.

Delivery

For me it is all about delivery. Delivery, Delivery, Delivery. In this year alone Peel Waters have completed 737 new homes and received planning approval to build a further 1,701 homes in addition to our already secured and live construction pipeline.

Two stand-out Peel Waters projects I wanted to highlight in terms of delivery in 2024 is the completion of 500 striking new homes at Millers Quay, Wirral Waters – the largest project we have delivered since MediaCity – and Cavalier Court, Chatham Waters – the largest affordable housing project Peel have ever delivered.

On planning permissions, we secured planning consent for Yorkhill Quay at Glasgow Waters, which means we can now deliver 1,100 new homes alongside a 200-bedroom hotel, making it one of the most exciting, major regeneration projects to watch in Glasgow. We also secured planning for ‘Basin3’ a new 300,000 square foot employment campus at Chatham Waters.

Partnerships

Given the scale of the Peel Waters portfolio, partnerships are vital for us to deliver our vision.

We have long term partners such as residential developer X1 and during the last 12 months, they secured permission for their future development at our Trafford Waters site comprising of 208 apartments and they are also on site at Liverpool Waters building 278 new homes.

A game-changing partnership for us this year is Central Docks at Liverpool Waters. By working in partnership with Homes England and Liverpool City Council, we have managed to secure a £56 million investment that will support the creation of a new public park and vital infrastructure that will accommodate approximately 2,350 new homes within Central Docks.

2024 was also a year in which we welcomed exciting new partnerships including our first project with The Forshaw Group who secured planning for their 24-storey landmark scheme at our Manchester Waters site in July, which will be their largest development to date with 224 homes.

Community, educational and charity partnerships continue to be integral to us as a company and for our Peel Waters regeneration sites and we are privileged to work with a wide variety of partners within this sector.

Our Clydeside Community Garden at Glasgow Waters which has been created by local artists and local residents has gone from strength-to-strength and provided an opportunity for the community to get hands-on with nature. Through our annual dragon boat race at Liverpool Waters, we raised £35,000 to support Claire House Children’s Hospice which offers specialist nursing care, end-of-life support, and emotional care, helping families navigate the most challenging times. Hundreds of students from the Wirral Waters construction campus have had the chance to learn new trades and skills by working on a ‘live’ project through our partnership with Wirral Met College, GRAHAM and PIC at Millers Quay.

And most recently, we have offered our support to improve the outdoor area at the Liverpool 6 Community Centre – the area in which the charity operates, is ranked the highest for disadvantage in the country and thanks to our partners Anchor Group Services and B&M we sourced and delivered 2,500 Christmas Selection Boxes for children living in some of the most deprived areas of Liverpool.

As we head into 2025, we look forward to working with and announcing even more new partnerships with businesses, investors and community groups across the UK.

Pride

My final value for Peel Waters is Pride. Not in pat-yourself-on-the back, but I do believe the level of what we do and deliver across the Peel Waters portfolio should be of such a high-standard that when we do look back at what we’ve delivered, the team feels pride in saying they were part of the team that made this happen.

I feel proud of every single member of the Peel Waters team. There are not many businesses in which you would find a team of experts covering so many different disciplines from asset management to accountancy legal services to construction or master-planning to marketing. The delivery of our Peel Waters developments would not be possible without our fantastic team and I want to express my upmost thanks to them for another year of their hard work, dedication and enthusiasm.

Finally, I would like to reflect on the achievement I am most proud of from across the portfolio this year – Embassy Village starting on site. Embassy Village has been a project we have been working on for many years and has brought over 50 businesses together from across Greater Manchester to work towards breaking the cycle of homelessness. In November this year, we celebrated breaking ground to transform our land below 22 railway arches into accommodation for 40 homeless men with a village hall, outdoor green spaces, mini allotments and a multi-use sports area. Starting the build of Embassy Village is a very significant moment for us and our partners who have worked on this meaningful project that will literally transform lives. From forming the initial concept of using our land for the most vulnerable in our society during a breakfast with Mayor Andy Burnham, to pulling together the huge team of consultants working on a pro bono basis and seeing this pioneering social value scheme come to fruition is extremely rewarding. We are very proud of our involvement and continuous support of this amazing project and we want to say a huge thanks to all those who have got involved in supporting Embassy Village so far. We hope that construction of Embassy Village will be completed by Winter 2025.

From me personally, I would like to thank everyone who has played a part in our landmark year and we look forward to what opportunities, milestones and partnerships 2025 will bring.

Read more about the developments, major milestones and what to look out for 2025 from across the Peel Waters portfolio along with reflections from the Peel Waters team and our partners below.