Contracts have been exchanged meaning 500 homes will now be built at one of the country's most ambitious regeneration projects.
Peel Land and Property, the Legacy Foundation and Wirral Council have exchanged contracts, meaning the £90m Wirral Waters One development can now begin.
Peel says the Birkenhead homes will be "distinctive, high-quality" residential one and two-bed apartments, with 100 affordable homes included.
The Merseyside development will also include dock edge walkways, gardens and terraces for residents as well as a better pedestrian walkways and cycle connections.
Wirral Waters One will be the first of a number of residential schemes coming forward along the Northbank neighbourhood area at Wirral Waters, Peel added.
Richard Mawdsley, director of development for Wirral Waters at Peel L&P, said: “This exchange of contracts follows on from the planning approval which was granted by Wirral Council back in December.
"It’s a significant step forward and another hurdle overcome for this ground-breaking residential scheme.
"We are acutely aware of the demand for local housing and are keen to get this build underway as soon as possible. We anticipate remediation work starting on site in the autumn and hope to have the build itself underway shortly thereafter.”
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Cllr Pat Hackett, leader of the council, said it was a "fantastic" result for many reasons.
He said: "It kick-starts development at Wirral Waters, helping to transform Birkenhead’s dockland and attracting new businesses and visitors to the area.
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"It also provides the homes people desperately need, on a key brownfield site, limiting any potential need to release Green Belt for development.
“This development is the result of months of hard work and I am genuinely excited about seeing cranes in the sky above Wirral Waters as the development really starts to pick up pace.”
A Legacy spokesperson said: “We are very excited to bring Legacy to Wirral. We are very proud of the 100 affordable homes being brought to this high-quality scheme whilst also supporting the local community with a Legacy grant for sports and education in the local area. We have brought the Council, the landowner and Aviva to the table and have worked tirelessly to get this over the line. We look forward to working with other councils on similar projects.”
Birkenhead MP, Frank Field, said: “This is most welcome news. Andrew Forsey, in my parliamentary office, initiated the idea, suggesting that I approach Legacy to see if they would be interested in investing in new housing in Birkenhead. We then set up a meeting with the council to make that idea become reality.
“We are now promised not only 500 homes on brownfield land, in this initial stage, but also large numbers of jobs and apprenticeships and, hopefully, the prospect of many more homes being built in and around that site in the future.”