£200m Armadale regeneration gets underway

Nov 17 2011 by Marjorie Kerr, West Lothian Courier

armadale

A NEW £200 million regeneration project for a West Lothian town has been officially launched.

Alex Neil MSP, Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment, officially launched the scheme in Armadale on Monday.

The project is anticipated to see 4500 permanent jobs created when complete and will deliver 1000 houses, a hotel, care home, leisure facilities, industrial and office space.

The Cabinet Secretary was joined on-site by the leader of West Lothian Council, Councillor Peter Johnston; Sandra Carter, director of site developers SDA Ltd and the depute head boy and depute head girl of Armadale Academy, Ewan Prentice and Rachel Valentine, with a time capsule put together by the school for the occasion.

Representatives from Taylor Wimpey, Bellway Homes and ASDA were also present.

SDA Ltd, the developers behind Armadale Station Development, recently completed the first phase sale to Taylor Wimpey and Bellway Homes of two housing sites for the construction of 180 houses with work now starting on the sites and the first houses expected to be occupied in spring 2012.

ASDA is expecting to see its new store open in September 2012, with enabling works currently being undertaken on site.

It is anticipated that the store of 40,000 square feet will create 150 full and part-time jobs.

SDA Ltd is also working with West Lothian Council on potential proposals to deliver a new primary school.

The sale of the two housing sites and the arrival of ASDA marks the culmination of eight years of hard work by the development team, with support from West Lothian Council, Armadale Community Council and the local community, to regenerate the area.

As the initial phase of the development commences, the developers are keen to keep up the momentum with a planning application lodged in June comprising 394 homes, neighbourhood shops next to the station, a community building next to the station which has been designed to incorporate facilities such as a nursery or a doctors' surgery, together with smaller units to accommodate, for example, a dental surgery, beautician and/or chiropodist clinics, an office building next to the new roundabout on Station Road which has been designed to accommodate either several independent small businesses or a high profile single occupier and two mixed-use buildings incorporating flats and ground floor commercial units set around the supermarket and Civic Square.

Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment Alex Neil, said: “I am delighted to launch this project, which is a prime example of how co-operation between the public and private sector can benefit the local community and stimulate the winder economy.

“Continued investment in infrastructure is vital if we are to recover from the current financial difficulties and developments such as this one at Armadale are playing a huge part in that.”

Leader of West Lothian Council, Councillor Peter Johnston, said he’s delighted that work is getting underway on the project.

He said: “The vision the developers had of the site, with the co-operation of West Lothian Council, is being realized and we look forward to continue working on ensuring that the potential of this development is fully realised.

“It is a great success story, not just for Armadale, but for Scotland.”

Commenting on the announcement Sandra Carter from SDA Ltd added: “This £200m development is one of the most exciting regeneration projects taking place in Scotland.”