Car park owner and operator Euro Car Parks is branching out into development with plans to build out a UK-wide pipeline of sites with a combined value of around £500m.
It is looking to take advantage of the surge in property values over the past two years.
ECP Holdings’ first planning application is for a £70m scheme comprising 234 flats, 13 townhouses and a 200-bedroom hotel on the corner of Trinity way and Chapel Street in Salford, Greater Manchester.
The firm has appointed Matrix as project manager for its pipeline and is in discussions with prospective construction and development partners.
ECP owns 50 UK sites including car parks in Birmingham and central London.
The firm is working up a priority list for the developments, but has singled out eight sites in Manchester as initial projects.
These include sites in New Cross, Aytoun Street and York Street, which combined with the Salford project have the potential for 800 homes.
ECP will consider all sectors for development, but its holdings – predominantly car parks in city and town centres – lend themselves most readily to residential development.
The OMI-designed Trinity Way project sits within the New Bailey masterplan being developed by the English Cities Fund joint venture, but ECP has an implementation agreement allowing it to build out the site if it sticks to agreed timescales.
ECP director Les Knight said: “This is new to us – we have brought some development skills in house and with emerging optimism in the market we did not want to be left behind by missing the cycle.
He added: “We thought now was the right time to make the most of our network of sites and build up a reputation as a developer.”
