Eckersley Mill is Wigan’s largest brownfield site under single ownership and one of the town centre’s most significant historic assets. This pioneering redevelopment represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape part of Wigan town centre. For many years the site had been underused, fragmented and deteriorating, with its scale, listed status and condition presenting major barriers to investment. Wigan Council has long recognised the site’s strategic importance, but the viability gap associated with refurbishing and re‑animating a series of Grade II listed mill buildings meant that progress had repeatedly stalled. The Heaton Group acquired the site with a long‑term vision for a mixed‑use neighbourhood, secured planning permission and made a bold early move by delivering Phase One using its own capital and brownfield housing grant funding (which we helped secure). This initial investment began to change perceptions of the site, but the wider regeneration could not proceed without substantial grant funding to address market failure. Good Growth funding is intensely competitive, with many more applicants than available money. After an initial submission, we were brought on board to strengthen and refine the proposition. Our combined public-private experience meant we could illuminate exactly what was needed to build a winning case.