Tony McDonough meets Daniel Hynd,project director of Neptune Group

WHAT’S often referred to as Liverpool’s economic renaissance can probably be traced back to 1999 and the completion of the regeneration of Queen Square.

Neptune Group was behind that scheme, which saw the construction of the Marriott Hotel, a number of bars and restaurants, a 600-space car park and a bus station.

That was constructed in the midst of tough economic conditions, and, 12 years on, Neptune has repeated the feat with the Marine Point development, in New Brighton.

Leading the scheme, at the age of 27, is Neptune project director Daniel Hynd, son of company founder, Peter Hynd.

Tomorrow is a proud moment for the Hynd family and everyone at Neptune.

Her Majesty the Queen will officially unveil the £60m mixed-use scheme, which has been 11 years in the planning and execution.

It began with the creation of the new Floral Pavilion theatre and conference centre.

Following that was the construction of a 1,200-seat The Light cinema, a 69,000 sq ft Morrison’s supermarket, a 66-bed Travelodge Hotel, a casino and other commercial outlets.

“Bringing Marine Point to fruition has been a long process,” said the younger Hynd.

“Other developers have come and gone, and then there was a public inquiry which delayed it for three years.

“The decision of the inquiry went against us so we had to start the planning process from scratch.”

In the early to mid 20th century, New Brighton had been one of northern England’s foremost seaside resorts.

Its decline in the latter half of the century was rapid, and a regeneration scheme was urgently needed.

But the plans caused much controversy among local people, with some concerned about the aesthetics of the scheme.

However, now the development is almost complete, Hynd believes the majority of people are now starting to see the benefits.

“I think now we have won local people over,” he said.

“People are really seeing how beneficial it is – other local businesses are really behind it because they are seeing an upturn in trade.

“Both Morisson’s and Travelodge are really pleased with how things have gone.

“The whole scheme is creating more than 700 jobs.”

A major feat in itself for Neptune was securing bank funding for the scheme. In the current environment, many banks will not touch property schemes with a bargepole.

Hynd added: “We managed to secure £23m from HSBC – we have made up the rest ourselves.

“It was the only major property scheme in the north of England that HSBC has committed to in 2011.

“Getting that backing was a real achievement for us, as negotiating with banks in this climate is very difficult – many of them won’t even consider backing a speculative scheme like this.

“There is only around 8,000 sq ft of space to be let, and we are confident we can fill it in the coming months.”

Hynd was born and brought up in Liverpool and from an early age was determined to go into the family business.

He attended St Edwards College, in West Derby, and then went on to study at Liverpool John Moores University.

He did his degree in real estate management and a masters in construction project management.

“I never really envisaged doing anything else, other than working in the construction industry – all my GCSE and A-Level choices were geared towards that,” he said.

Hynd was working for Neptune part-time while he was doing his studies, and, in the latter stages of his university course he was almost there full-time.

He said: “At first I was doing smaller jobs day to day, but then I was given my own project to manage – a scheme by Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral.

“I looked after the whole thing – from development right through to sale. That was when I picked up a lot of the skills that I am using now.”

Those skills are now being put to good use.

As well as Marine Point, Hynd is also overseeing a huge scheme in the Midlands – the Wolverhampton Interchange. This is a joint venture with Wolverhampton City Council to rebuild its bus and train stations.

Neptune is also currently still finishing off the Mann Island Scheme on Liverpool’s waterfront.

This comprises three black granite buildings with 376 apartments, 75,000 sq ft of retail space and 114,000 sq ft of office space which is to be occupied by transport authority Merseytravel. The residential element was sold to Dylan Harvey early in 2008, but Neptune is now back involved again in the marketing of the apartments.

Hynd is now overseeing the final part of the Marine Point scheme – the building of 24 apartments.

He said: “We had originally planned to build 36 smaller apartments to be marketed to the investment market.

“But after what happened to that market we had to change the plan and we are now building larger apartments aimed at owner-occupiers. They will all offer fantastic views across the River Mersey.”

Joint ventures with local authorities have been a key part of Neptune’s business model over the last few years, but public sector cutbacks mean that approach is now having to be modified.

Hynd added: “We are in discussions with banks that have distressed properties and we are looking to form partnerships with contractors in order to mitigate the risks. We see ourselves as helping to make Merseyside more economically competitive.

“People say Queen Square development was one of the things that helped pull Merseyside out of a very difficult economic period.

“I think we are going in the right direction, but we need the continued support of the Government to help that process along.”