£100m plan to revive rundown area and create new city gateway
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Feb 14 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post
DEVELOPER Urban Splash will today unveil plans for the biggest housing scheme ever to be created in Liverpool by a single developer.
The £100m redevelopment of Great George Street, next to the Anglican Cathedral, will create a striking new gateway to the city, incorporating shops, businesses, a hotel, and 740 apartments and houses.
The Liverpool office of Urban Splash is behind the project on the five-acre site, which has been named Tribeca.
It will take eight years to complete in six phases, and incorporate the efforts of at least three architects’ practices.
The first phase of 141 apart-ments, 36 of which will be shared ownership, and 10 social houses for displaced residents, will begin by late spring.
Simon Humphreys, develop-ment director at Urban Splash’s Liverpool office, said: “Our vision is to make Great George Street a residential thriving commercial street again, and give it a proper identity as a gateway to the city.”
It is hoped that every space along the street at ground level – from the already established Wedding House at one end, to the Blackie at the other – will be given over to retail and business oppor-tunities. Planning permission for a hotel has already been approved.
For residents of the 20 social houses and the one, two and three-bedroomed apartments targeted at first-time buyers, there will be underground parking, private balconies and use of a one-acre private “pocket park”.
It is Urban Splash’s biggest investment in Liverpool to date, and is thought to be the biggest residential scheme ever under-taken in the city by one developer.
Mr Humphreys said: “City centre flats get a bad press, but we always believed that if it is the right type of apartment and right kind of quality, it will sell.
“All those perceived downsides to living in the city centre won’t be here. The whole package will make it a success. We invest in our architecture, we want them to be exciting places to live, and if we get it right, people will be queuing up to live here.”
Residents on the site have been involved in each stage of the development, meeting with archi-tects and choosing their favourite features for their new homes.
Mr Humphreys said: “Those people who are being moved out of their homes are being provided with something far superior and have been involved. They have all taken ownership and know exact-ly where they are going to live.
“It is not often an opportunity like this arrives to really make a difference in one area of a city. It is not change for change’s sake, we are taking what is not working and replacing it to improve the area in a way that will definitely be to the betterment of the city.”
Mark Sidebotham, director of Liverpool architects Shed KM, which is involved in the scheme, said: “The masterplan was all about trying to create some good- quality space – with a private garden, good, natural light and views, and a balcony that people can actually use – that will have more of an attraction for people to come and live in the city centre.”
Alison Brooks Architects was inspired by the cathedral for its input into the scheme.
Ms Brooks said: “We wanted to re-interpret the Neo-Gothic Victor-ian architecture in this area of the city and take it a step further.
“We’re really excited about par-ticipating in creating a new urban neighbourhood with the scale and density and architectural quality that puts it on a par with the great boulevards of Continental cities.
“The aim is to extend the centre of the city to the south so the area becomes a gateway into Liverpool, and a destination in itself.”
Riverside ward councillor Steve Munby, a member of the Liverpool Partnership who has pushed for the scheme, said: “Great George Street is a key entrance to the city and it’s pretty disgusting. The res-idents’ general verdict was any-thing is better than what we have got at the moment. It is desperate.
“It is a fantastic scheme and Urban Splash have done a great job. I’ve been one of the sternest critics on unwanted flats, but they are helping fund social housing for local residents and are not just coming in to rip off the city. I think it’s going to bring this part of the city back to life. I’m proud we have managed to achieve it.”
Urban Splash, in conjunction with industry journal the AJ, is today launching a competition to find a young architect under 35 to design Tribeca’s sales office, which will also be on site.
vickyanderson
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