Has Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson stumbled onto the most powerful property tool a local politician has yet discovered? Musings in the city’s property sector suggest the answer is a big Scouse yes.
Since 2007, Regeneration Liverpool – Liverpool city council’s joint venture with regeneration specialist Sigma Inpartnership – has been working on mainly residential projects. Four schemes are under way, including the 63-acre former Boot Estate in Norris Green and Childwall (see box). More are to come.
But today, preparing for two large projects with a more commercial angle, the asset-backed vehicle is about to move into a new phase.
Anderson has asked the partnership to take on the thorny problem of completing Kings Dock (above) – Liverpool’s last major waterfront development site, at the southern end of the city’s docklands.
The mayor’s ambition for the Homes & Communities Agency-owned site, located next to the arena and convention centre, will include leisure facilities, a hotel, a cinema and housing on the remaining eight acres. Regeneration Liverpool’s task is to deliver.
It is a bold move and, with the ghosts of defunct Liverpool regeneration bodies hovering over it, a brave one. For three decades politicians have been searching for a can-do body able to implement their plans. The Merseyside Development Corporation was the most muscular; Liverpool Vision, itself formed from the merger of three earlier bodies, the last and arguably most successful.
It is still early days for Kings Dock, but we know that two large commercial prospects will dominate Regeneration Liverpool’s plans. The city’s Knowledge Quarter will be the high-profile attention-grabber, and Stonebridge Cross a decent if unspectacular revenue generator.
Regeneration Liverpool does not come to commercial development without experience. The partnership has been behind plans for a nine-acre site at Edge Lane intended to house the city’s meat and fish market, relocated from Prescot Road. It would join the fruit, flower and vegetable market. It is also behind plans for the Stonebridge Cross site.
However, in 2012 the two partners took a third partner on board – Liverpool-based commercial developer Neptune Developments. The deal, which spawned affiliate company Neptune Inpartnership, was granted an option on the development of an area to the south and east of Lime Street in Liverpool.
The run-down plot, totalling around six acres, will be connected to the city’s Knowledge Quarter. This matters, both for property and politics, because transforming Liverpool into a knowledge economy is one of the growth objectives of Liverpool’s executive mayor Anderson. It will contribute to the 20,000 new jobs he has promised the city.
Mark Kitts, Liverpool’s assistant director for regeneration, says: “The partnership has a potential 15-year life, which can be extended. The council at its discretion can put surplus sites under option to the partnership. The excellent relationship has led Sigma Capital to prioritise sites in the city for its recently announced private rented sector fund, which will be complemented by other sites in the Merseyside area.”
From the sidelines, Liverpool’s property industry is watching with fascination. “They have found a way of making sure sites are deliverable. Things now get to market, and it seems to be working because a lot of brownfield sites that have been around for a long time are now moving,” says John Barker, partner at Hitchcock Wright & Partners.
“There’s a change in mood. Partly that’s about a change in property pricing, partly it’s about mayoral influence, but also locals want to see something happen. There is real pressure to bring sites forward.”
Barker says the effect is now spilling out beyond the list of sites allocated to Regeneration Liverpool. He points to the 11-acre former Walton Hospital site, where plans are being nurtured for a mixed residential and commercial scheme. “We are in discussions with a couple of parties,” he says.
So, a Liverpool regeneration vehicle that actually rolls, with the mayor in the driving seat? That’s what it looks like. If it parks outside your site, you’ll know what it is.
The projects
Childwall Progress is expected any day now on the redevelopment of the 19-acre former Gateacre comprehensive school site at Childwall. The city council recently granted an option agreement that opens the way to a £65m development by Sigma.
Aintree The 12-acre site of the former Queen Mary School is now scheduled for a £27m residential redevelopment (pictured). The school closed in 2004 and the site has been vacant since. As many as 190 homes will be developed by Countryside Sigma.
Stonebridge Cross, Gillmoss Plans were thrown into disarray when it looked as though Amazon might select the 90-acre site for its 1m sq ft-plus North West warehouse. Retail and leisure development is proposed, while neighbouring sites off the East Lancashire Road will see a 71,000 sq ft Morrisons supermarket and a new school. Neptune Developments is co-partner.
Norris Green The 60-acre site will eventually provide 800 new homes. Today about 370 have been completed.
Knowledge quarter
The six-acre Lime Street site is the jewel in the Regeneration Liverpool crown. Countryside Sigma’s half-year statement says that it is working with the council to acquire the final interests on the street frontage, a move which unlocks development. It says: “The scheme will include significant ground-floor retail and leisure, student housing and a budget hotel, which is scheduled to open in 2016. We are programmed to start on site in the second quarter of 2015.”
