Hopes that hundreds of homes could be built on a riverside site which has stood derelict for more than a decade have been raised after administrators confirmed they were in talks with a number of businesses.

Proposals for 437 apartments on the five-acre St Anne's Wharf site between King Street and the River Wensum in Norwich were cast in doubt when property developers City Living Developments (Norwich) and sister companies City Living Homes and Anglia Projects & Developments called in administrators Begbies Traynor last May.

The companies were hit by the slump in the housing market and were unable to raise the cash to complete the project on the site of the former Norwich Brewery, running up debts totalling tens of millions of pounds, including �48m to Dunbar Bank.

But the administrators have this week confirmed a number of companies have contacted them to express interest in acquiring the site or forming a partnership to take the development forward.Begbies Traynor has also said it is still considering selling the site but remains in talks with interested parties.

A statement from the company said: 'We haven't reached the stage of actively marketing the site, but we can confirm we have spoken to various interested parties about the site and these talks are progressing.'

The news follows a progress report on Anglia Projects & Developments for the period from May 26 to November 25, 2010, drawn up by the administrators, which said: 'Although the administrators have not yet marketed the site for sale, a number of interested parties have made inquiries to either acquire the site or be part of a joint venture should the scheme be built out.

'We will consider formally marketing the site in the New Year, after which the administrators will consider their options with the bank.'

The St Anne's Wharf site also includes the Grade II listed Howard House, built for Henry Howard, the sixth Duke of Norfolk, in the mid-17th century, which Begbies Traynor said last year was in a 'serious state of disrepair'.

The administrator's report said heritage body the Norwich Preservation Trust was currently conducting a survey of the building 'with a view to acquiring the site, subject to the findings of the survey'.

In addition to supplying hundreds of new homes in the city, the development is seen as key to revamping the historic King Street area.

Plans to build on the site have been in the pipeline since the mid-1990s.

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