Elan Homes has completed its five-year redevelopment of a former factory site in Southprot, creating 157 new homes/
The homebuilder is now looking for further land with development potential.
At Balmoral Gardens in Southport, Elan Homes has demonstrated its expertise in creating communities and enhancing neighbourhoods. Its transformation of the 14-acre brownfield site was highly commended in the Best Large New Homes Development category of the YM Liverpool Property & Business Awards 2025; was shortlisted in the Residential Development of the Year category of the Insider Liverpool City Region Property Awards 2025 and more recently in the Insider North West Residential Property Awards 2026 in the Large Housing Development category.
Used to produce Vulcan motor vehicles in the early 20th century, munitions in the First World War, then by Philips who manufactured TV components, the site ceased being of single use in 2011. A mixed-use ad hoc business park occupied some of the premises from 2011, but large parts were vacant. Prior to Elan’s acquisition, locals considered it as an eyesore, and it was the subject of antisocial behaviour.
Work to redevelop the site started in early 2020, sales launched off plan in early 2021 and show homes opened that summer. Elan expected to be building and selling homes through to 2026, but all 157 homes have now been sold. A large proportion of residents are from the Sefton area, including first time buyers, upsizers and downsizers.
Philip Palmer, land director at Elan Homes in the North, said:
“We’re immensely proud of what we’ve achieved at Balmoral Gardens. The land was allocated for housing by Sefton Council, with appraisals to ensure viability and extensive public consultations held before plans were submitted and approved.
“We overcame a range of technical challenges including historic building investigations and the removal of asbestos containing materials by specialist contractors before demolition and remediation works took place. What had become a blot on the landscape, plagued by antisocial behaviour has been regenerated beyond recognition. It’s helped Sefton Council towards its housing targets for the local plan period, something we believe is good practice in providing new homes to the housing market, while reducing long term pressure to develop the local Green Belt.”Balmoral Gardens homeowners scored Elan 4.3* out of five in Google reviews, many giving five-star Trustpilot ratings. Overall satisfaction among residents is 86%, with 89% likely to recommend Elan.
Benefits of the development include:
- Contributing to Sefton Council’s housing targets.
- Bringing a brownfield site back into good use.
- £400,000 in Government funding, matching additional council tax raised by the new homes.
- £334,276 contribution from Elan for local schools.
- Voluntary donations to Local Community Projects include – Churchtown Primary School for football kits, Southport Sea Cadets for kayaks and Elsie’s Story.
- Creation of 11,000 sqm of public open space, contributing towards the ‘Healthy Sefton’ policy.
Elan’s Northern business operates across Lancashire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region and North Wales and is seeking further opportunities across North Staffordshire and Shropshire to link with its Midlands office.
Its team is adept at seeing the potential of a site, whether it’s currently brownfield or greenfield. The business will consider land capable of delivering anything from 10 to 150 homes, with, or without, planning permission.
Elan will draw up proposals to fit the site, adapting its product mix to address local housing needs and working with the landowner and local authority to bring the scheme to fruition.
“We’re keen to acquire additional land with development potential to contribute to the newly released local housing targets, seeking to provide high quality, energy efficient homes people want and the market needs,” Philip added.
“The delivery of new homes brings an economic benefit to communities. We invest in the areas we build to support local infrastructure via funding agreements made with the local authority during the planning progress. Jobs are created on site during the construction of the homes. Both the people who work on our homes and those who live in them naturally support local businesses and in time there is a positive, long-term impact in the form of additional council tax revenue.”
For information about Elan see http://www.elan-homes.co.uk or to explore land opportunities with the company see https://www.elan-homes.co.uk/about-elan/land-enquiries.
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