PEEL has unveiled plans to build a £130m International Trade Centre (ITC) by the River Mersey to house more than 1,000 Chinese companies that want to trade in the UK and Europe.

The developer, which is behind the Liverpool and Wirral Waters schemes, as well as the Trafford Centre and Media City, in Manchester, has identified two possible locations for the two million sq ft development.

They are West Float, in Birkenhead, and the former Bridgewater Paper Mill, near Ellesmere Port, which are both already part of Peel’s land bank.

Peel’s development director, Lindsey Ashworth, has already met with potential investors in Beijing and Shanghai, and was encouraged by their response.

He credits Peel’s involvement with Liverpool’s Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai last year as providing the platform for the ambitious ITC plans.

“It’s led out of the Expo – our involvement with that has boded very well with the Chinese people, and we just want to keep building on that relationship,” said Mr Ashworth.

“The idea for the ITC came to me towards the end of last year. The idea is to try and get the start of Chinese businesses into the North West.

“I have seen these trade centres in China and they are huge, and I wanted to set something up in the Liverpool city region area that would serve the whole of Europe.”

The ITC would enable Chinese companies, as well as those from other emerging markets such as Korea and India, to exhibit, sell, assemble and distribute their goods into the UK, Irish and European markets.

Wirral Council leader, Cllr Jeff Green, said: “Given our active support for this project, we believe that the West Float site, with its outstanding links to road, rail and port facilities, is the best site for the International Trade Centre as it will also kick-start a chain of development at the Wirral Waters site.”

Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, Mike Jones, added: “The Peel Group’s plans would be a huge boost to Ellesmere Port’s economy, potentially creating thousands of jobs locally and attracting trade from across the world. 
 
“If the project were to come to fruition, the benefits to the town would be incredible and go a long way towards our over-arching regeneration plans for the area – with benefits to both local residents and businesses alike.”

The Mersey Partnership chief executive Lorraine Rogers added: "The concept fits well with the superport plan which has excellent connectivity and infrastructure at its core.

"An International Trade Centre has the potential to open up links with international markets that could accelerate economic growth in the area."

Peel said the decision on which site they will progress with is “for a later date”, but it is pressing ahead with planning applications for both sites. Mr Ashworth expects to lodge the applications at the start of May with the process to be completed by autumn. The development could be completed by the end of 2014.

It added that the sites in Wirral and Ellesmere Port could both be developed, depending on the level of interest, with the potential for them to be focused on different product areas.