Renewed efforts are being made to transform Liverpools Kings Dock into a £115m showpiece. The move comes after the collapse of a previous plan led by Eddie Healeys Stadium Group.
English Partnerships has launched an international competition to find a development partner for the project, and is inviting expressions of interest in the 14.5ha (36 acres) site by early October and detailed proposals by mid-December. The scheme is backed by the Northwest Development Agency, Liverpool council and urban regeneration company Liverpool Vision.
EP executive Eliot Lewis-Ward said: “Liverpools waterfront is world-renowned. Were marketing this site globally, and looking for a world-class partner.”
EPs design brief for the site, now renamed Kings Waterfront, is for a leisure-led, mixed-use scheme, to include a cinema, bowling alley, restaurants, bars, hotel and convention centre.
Office development and a waterfront residential scheme are also planned, along with improvement of the north-south link with neighbouring Albert Dock and the Strand.
The latest plans for the site follow the failed attempt by the Stadium Group, which pulled out in 1998 after its retail-led proposals did not gain support from Liverpool council.
At the time the council felt Stadiums plans would undermine other high-profile retail schemes in the city, such as Chavasse Park and Paradise Street.
But Lewis-Ward said: “Paradise Street and Chavasse Park are predominantly retail schemes. Kings Waterfront is complementary to both schemes and the city centre.”
GVA Grimley is advising English Partnerships.
EGi News 09/09/00
