A consultant is being retained to help Preston City Council decide how the city should be redeveloped.

Cushman and Wakefield, led by Caroline Baker, has been advising Preston on making a bid for the government’s multi-billion pound fund for housing in the city.

The proposals, as reported in July last year, have six key sites identified for new homes including the former St Joseph’s Orphanage.

The contract is worth around £40,000 with Cushman and Wakefield receiving a payment of £38,703 in April this year and a further payment of £1,842 from the city council in June this year.

Known as the City Living strategy the city council is preparing it’s final proposals to win a share of the £2.3billion pot.

City Living chief Nigel Roberts said: Making a strong, competitive case for HiF support is key to getting our ambitious plans for Preston city centre up and running as quickly as possible.

“A successful bid will potentially unlock several sites and enable us to work quickly and efficiently to see many new homes build across the city centre.

“Having Cushman & Wakefield alongside to help and advise has been crucial in making a hopefully successful bid to the Department for Communities and Local Government.”

Read more: Could St Joseph’s Orphanage see a new owner soon?

Cushman and Wakefield worked on Manchester Council’s redevelopment strategy for many years.

Caroline Baker said: Preston has shown itself to be both ambitious and forward-thinking. The council has embraced the new City Living strategy and is keen to see some results in the form of new homes being built, proposed and on the drawing board.

“Our role is to guide the council and its partners to encourage and facilitate the right sort of quality new builds of all types and for all sectors of the residential market to benefit the whole of Preston city centre.

“There are certainly examples of best practice from other UK cities that are well worth adopting to get the best development for the city and we can help deliver that.”

Read more: Former Preston city centre warehouse to be knocked down and turned into flats

The City Living plan is being used to promote the city centre to key investors.

Leader of the city council Peter Rankin said: “This is a key reappointment and shows we are serious about transforming the residential future of Preston city centre.

“We have a very good development team at the council which has a clear vision for our city’s continued regeneration and this is just one of the many initiatives we have in place to make Preston a more prosperous city for all our residents.

“The more we can show the outside world of investors and developers that Preston is a city of opportunity, a fantastic location to live and work, the more inward investment we will attract.”

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