Background
The Bentilee estate in Stoke was once Europe's largest council housing estate with a population of over 12,000. It had experienced social and economic decline and was in need of investment and regeneration.
The Stoke (Bentilee) PFI scheme is a flagship project within a larger regeneration programme known as 'the Villages Initiative' situated in Stoke-on-Trent. The project aims to address the problems of social exclusion and is focused on meeting the needs of the Bentilee community.
Once complete, the £8.5 million project will provide a central focus point for the community, and encourage further local investment. The project company was keen to ensure the existing shops were included in the new plans and offered retailers first refusal of premises within the new Centre.
Project
Once complete, the Bentilee District Centre re-development project will provide a one-stop centre for major services to local people. Services at the centre will include a housing office, library, primary health care centre, Citizens Advice Bureau, a community centre, youth facilities, a health walk in centre and new retail units.
The Seddon Group is the main contractor for this project, and will be undertaking site clearance and overseeing the design and construction of the new centre. They constructed a temporary retail village over the first few weeks to ensure continuity of service and business for local residents and local retailers, and once the project is complete, will also provide maintenance services to the completed buildings.
Construction commenced on this project in February 2005, and the centre is due to open in the spring of 2007.
This is the first joint service centre to be delivered through PFI and brings together a broad range of local authority, primary health, retail and community facilities. The PFI project covers the demolition and clearance of the site, the design and construction of the new district centre, and the provision of the maintenance and domestic services to the centre of 25 years.
The project company formed to act as PFI Contractor is Bentilee HUB Ltd and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Regenter, a leading investor and developer of social housing PFI schemes. The PFI contract was awarded to Regenter, who were enlisted to build and operate the centre over a 25 year period, by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, in partnership with North Stoke Primary Care Trust.
Endorsement
"Although we are at the early stages of this project, I have been working closely with Seddon and the local community and the project has been extremely rewarding. So far we have been involved with Bentilee Dad's Group and we will be helping with the annual flower show in September. The local retailers have been able to carry on as normal throughout and the community has really bought into the project, there was even a topping out ceremony with the retiring lord mayor of Stoke-on-Trent. We also ran a 'Design a Logo' contest for the District Centre, with schools in the area which has been a great success; it means that the centre already has its own identity that local people can relate to."
David Hulstone, General Manager for the Bentilee HUB