A report - to be considered by City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet next
week – recommends Capital Centric are appointed as part of a pre-
development agreement for the former Sainsbury’s supermarket site, to bring
the neighbourhood forward.

The first step will be to develop a masterplan for the 5-acre St George’s site,
with early ideas for a melting pot of homes, community spaces and green
streets, with the Grade II listed church repurposed as a community
centrepiece. Shops, workspaces and café bars would complete the line-up,
adding a vibrant new quarter to Wolverhampton’s city centre, with links to the
£61million City Learning Quarter set to open in 2025.

If appointed, the developers will work up a detailed vision as to how the
strategic site could become a destination district for the people of
Wolverhampton, with the potential for over 400 homes. The next stage would
then be to consult the community prior to the submission of a planning
application.

Established in Manchester, Capital Centric have gone on to deliver on
award-winning regeneration projects across the UK, from homes and
workspaces, to hotels and leisure destinations. They’ve earned an enviable
reputation for their offbeat design, with many of their projects featuring a
striking blend of restoration of historic buildings alongside contemporary new
builds.

Having delivered standout neighbourhoods in Manchester city centre –
including Kampus and Piccadilly East – they’re now ploughing on with
transformational mixed use communities in spots including Stockport,
Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme. Everything they do is
geared toward delivering social impact through regeneration, whether creating
communities of independent businesses, creating skilled new jobs or inspiring
young people into careers in regeneration through the not-for-profit
‘Regeneration Brainery’ they established.

City of Wolverhampton Council Leader, Councillor Stephen Simkins, said:
“Ambitious plans and investment as part of a wider strategy are driving the
regeneration of our city centre, The Halls Wolverhampton, our award-winning
£150million transport interchange and Grade-A office developments are
testament to that.

“The St George’s opportunity sits at the heart of this, well connected to
commercial and leisure hubs, which is a priority as we transform our city
centre to generate jobs, homes and growth.

“If the recommendations are approved by Cabinet it will enable the council to
develop an outline business case that will establish this site as a new gateway
into the city centre.

“St George’s can provide an inclusive, safe and sustainable new quarter that
will generate new opportunities and jobs, bring underutilised assets back into
community use and, importantly, deliver much needed new homes in
Wolverhampton city centre, which will bring wider social and economic
benefits.”

John Moffat, Joint Managing Director at Capital Centric, said: “St George’s is
a worthy headliner among the line-up of major opportunities in
Wolverhampton and fits perfectly with what we’re about … delivering eclectic
neighbourhoods that mix the old and new. It has bags of potential and we’re
already brimming with ideas of how we could deliver new city centre homes
alongside community hangout spaces and loads of much-needed greenery.
We can’t wait to write the next chapter for the stunning St George’s church,
creating a new centrepiece around which the community will revolve.”

St George’s was one of a trio of development opportunities, featured in the
Wolverhampton Investment Prospectus, launched by the Council at MIPIM
earlier this year. The prospectus is aimed at bringing the private and public
sector together to unlock growth in the city, delivering more homes, jobs and
investment.