Town centre apartments construction to continue amid coronavirus

The site, on Academy Street, was formerly home to a Kwik Save.

Lane End Developments has been working on the development in partnership with social housing provider Torus.

Developers hoped the scheme would be completed by summer next year but there is some uncertainty over the target date due to the current situation facing the construction industry.

A Torus spokesman said: “The construction of our apartments, on Academy Street in Warrington, will continue.

“The health and safety of our workers, partners and sub-contractors is a priority for us and all site activity will follow safe operating procedures issued by the Construction Leadership Council, aligned to Public Health England guidelines.

“The contractor building the concrete structure has enough supplies to maintain activity on the site, which ensures that a level of continued progress can be maintained.

“This will be reviewed as time progresses and in line with changes to Government advice and guidelines.”

Tory MP Esther McVey visited the site in February while she was a housing minister, a role she was sacked from shortly after, as part of a reshuffle to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top team.

During her visit, she welcomed Warrington’s 20-year town centre masterplan and said Warrington ‘certainly could be a very beautiful city’.

The Academy Street site is one of many pieces of land in the heart of the borough that will be turned into housing.

The masterplan, which was approved by the council’s cabinet in January, includes the delivery of more than 8,000 homes.

Senior figures say it will provide a flexible framework for growth, development and regeneration.

The document also includes a range of other key components including transport, business, culture, circular parklands, the high street and Port Warrington, which would see the delivery of a new international port-based employment area with direct links to the national rail freight network.