Liverpool City Council has set in motion the next stages of Capital & Centric’s development of a new TV and film hub.
The council’s cabinet today (3 December) unlocked a two-phase redevelopment of the art deco former HQ of the Littlewoods business, which has been vacant for decades, with work expected to start in the new year.
The first phase will be backed with £8m of funding for Capital & Centric’s remediation work, part of a previously agreed £17m funding package. A funding package is then needed for phase two, with the council and combined authority each committing £12m and a search for a commercial lending partner under way.
Twickenham Film Studios and Liverpool John Moores University are set to occupy 85,000 sq ft of studio and ancillary space and 75,000 sq ft of education space, respectively.
Speaking to EG ahead of the meeting, Capital & Centric co-founder Adam Higgins said the project had become a “much bigger, more complicated but better scheme than we originally envisaged” when the company bought the site in 2017.
“It evolved from trying to do a simple film studio to what is now a film and media campus, where the very best private sector companies are going to be sat alongside the best film and media students at LJMU,” Higgins said. “But because it’s a big scheme and it’s complicated, it’s taken quite a long time to come together and pull forward.”
Describing the Littlewoods site as “one of the most famous buildings in Liverpool” and “worth fighting for”, he added: “I think what separates cities like Liverpool and Manchester is the fact they’ve got these amazing old buildings, and you’ve always got to try to keep them when you can, despite the challenges that they do face,” he said. “That, ultimately, is what creates an identity for these cities, otherwise we end up with ‘identikit’ towns and cities.”
Liverpool Council’s move came as a new report from planning and development consultancy Lichfields argued that growth and renewal of town centres in the UK will be more effective if heritage-led regeneration is embedded within wider investment programmes.
“When done well, heritage-led regeneration is not just an expedient ‘sticking plaster’ applied to cover up deep-rooted problems, it can be a powerful and recognisable indicator of change that inspires confidence, local pride and further investment,” Lichfields said.
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