Surge in office deals as a new Liverpool takes shapeOFFICE lettings in Liverpool soared by 30 per cent to 450,000 sq ft in
2005, according to CB Richard Ellis, the property consultant.
The rise in office take-up coincides with a £2 billion construction
boom in Liverpool city centre, representing the biggest surge in commercial
investment in the city’s history.
The skyline is dominated by more than 20 cranes, building shopping centres,
hotels, offices and residential skyscrapers. The developments are designed
to help Liverpool to catch up with Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds which
have benefited already from large scale regeneration programmes.
At the heart of the investment programme is Liverpool One, a £900
million shopping scheme by Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster’s
property company. In cash terms, it represents the biggest investment
in Merseyside yet.
The site, close to Liverpool’s historic waterfront, spans 42 acres
and is a hive of activity as construction workers begin to pile in the
foundations of the scheme. The development is scheduled, to open in 2008,
when Liverpool will be crowned Capital of Culture.
In contrast to older-style covered shopping centres, the Grosvenor project
will be made up of 30 different buildings, created in six districts, which
will form a normal streetscape. Incorporating giant John Lewis and Debenhams
stores and a 14-screen Odeon multiplex cinema, it will also contain bars,
restaurants, hotels and more than 500 residential apartments.
Less than 100 metres away from Liverpool One, Milligan a private developer,
is developing a £75 million shopping scheme behind the listed face
of a former Victorian post office. The scheme will open next year and
bring a clutch of new designer shops to Liverpool for the first time.
A newly revived commercial quarter close to the Royal Liver Building
is awash with luxury residential skyscrapers. The Beetham Organisation,
a local developer, sold some of the first £1 million flats in the
city when it completed a 30 storey tower there last year. The tower was
part of a £40 million scheme that also included a 200-bedroom Radisson
hotel and a new office scheme housing Unisys and UK Passport Services.
Permission has been granted for a second 40 storey West Tower next door,
which recently has started construction.
Nearby is Project Unity, a £67 million project by Rumford, a private
developer, to transform 1970’s concrete office buildings into modern
office and shopping space. This is thought to be the biggest speculative
commercial development outside London.