A fire destroyed parts of Liverpool’s iconic Littlewoods building last night, though developer Capital & Centric said it remains optimistic about its ambitions for the site.
The fire, which has been put out, destroyed the floors and roof of Littlewoods. However, Tim Heatley, co-founder of Capital & Centric, said the walls were still standing, adding: “If it’s still standing, then there’s something we can do with it.”
In June, Capital & Centric announced a £50m deal with Twickenham Studios for the film studios to expand into Littlewoods, creating “Hollywood standard” sound stages and hubs for filming. Plans also include building new studios on adjacent land.
Heatley said the fire affected only a part of the Littlewoods site – which consists of two buildings connected by a concrete hangar in the middle – leaving the space that Twickenham Studios is set to move into and develop largely unaffected.
However, he did caution that the fire would probably cause some complications, because the two sides of Littlewoods were linked.
“It’s going to cost more money, that’s for sure, to put right, and it has already been a challenge,” Heatley said. “But that’s what regeneration is about and that’s what we’re good at.”
Given the developer’s record of regenerating derelict buildings, Heatley said he and his colleagues were “optimists” about Littlewoods.
“Rather than let it constrain us, we see it as an opportunity to do yet more interesting architecture and more exciting interventions into the space, to ensure that it’s not only iconic for what it has been in the past, but iconic for what it can be in the future.”
The building, which Capital & Centric bought in 2017, has been derelict for decades, and much of Littlewoods would have had to be improved or replaced regardless of the fire.
Despite the blaze, a 95th anniversary celebration of Littlewoods will go ahead as planned tonight, with Capital & Centric representatives attending.
Heatley said the response from the fire service and from people sending positive messages had been “fantastic”, adding: “It gives you a really good sense of pride and motivation to get on with the job, getting it put back together again, getting it sorted and saving it.
“It’s just more bricks, more mortar and more white paint to put it back together again. But it will be done.”
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