The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a 27,870 sq m (300,000 sq ft) Merseyside office requirement – the region’s largest for more than a decade.
The HSE is looking for accommodation to replace its six 1970s-built office blocks at Stanley Precinct, Bootle, north Liverpool. It is understood that Sefton council is campaigning for the executive to stay in Bootle but that the HSE has widened its search to include the entire Merseyside area.
The 14.5ha (36-acre) Kings Waterfront site – currently the subject of a heated five-way development battle – and Speke Garston Development Company’s 40.4ha (100-acre) Estuary commerce park in south Liverpool, are thought to be under consideration.
Princes Dock – a joint development between Flint-based David McLean and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company – and Westbury/Enterprise’s Kings business park, Knowsley, are also believed to have been short-listed by HSE.
Simon Williams, partner with Donaldsons, Manchester, which is advising HSE, said: “The search is underway. We are open-minded about where we look in Merseyside.”
The requirement comes at a time when the Liverpool office market is taking off. It is widely rumoured that ACAS, the government arbitration service, is on the brink of signing a lease for 930 sq m (10,000 sq ft) at Urban Splash’s Match Factory development in Speke Garston.
EGi News 22/01/01
