BAM £300m Chester regeneration put on hold

BAM's £300m contract to regenerate Chester's city centre has been suspended after joint clients ING Real Estate and Chester City Council shelved the £460m Northgate Development regeneration scheme last week.

The project, which was expected to start next year, has been delayed until 2012. Councillor Stuart Parker said: "The credit crunch continues to affect schemes across the UK and it makes sense to postpone the development until the market begins to recover."

David Alker, development director at ING Real Estate, told CJ: "The development is being reviewed at the moment in terms of size and content."

A BAM spokesman said: "Bam is still working with the development partners to reschedule the scheme and bring the job to site in 2012."

BAM, formerly HBG, beat Laing O'Rourke and Carillion to win the contract.