Consultancy giant Deloitte secures deal with Liverpool City Council to develop a 10-year strategy for the city as it looks to kick-start a ‘multi-billion pound investment boom’. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool City Council has tasked consultancy giant Deloitte with drafting a 10-year masterplan for the city and kick-starting a new era of investment and development.
Deloitte will work with another consultancy, Planit, on the document which will aim to “drive the city council’s vision of a “multi-billion pound investment boom” and transform Liverpool into “one of the UK’s major economic powerhouses”. Deloitte closed its Liverpool office in 2020.
In announcing the partnership the council said: “This vision document, to be launched in the summer, will align key development and infrastructure opportunities to industrial and economic synergies in a bid to bring forward development in a comprehensive approach, with placemaking at its core.
“A key focus of the work will be to identify key development sites in the city’s development pipeline which will be used to inform a place-based approach to regeneration.
“Planit will support this element by providing urban design, planning and architectural input to the strategy.”
One of the issues to be tackled will likely be the chronic shortage of quality office space in Liverpool’s central business district. Earlier this week LBN revealed an Avison Young report that stated the city was “severely undersupplied” with quality space.
There are two potential office schemes that could provide new grade A office space – Pall Mall and Princes Dock in Liverpool. But with headline rents only just above £25 per sq ft investors remain reluctant to build speculatively.
On the work it is doing for the council, Deloitte partner Simon Bedford, said: “Liverpool is setting out its stall for the next decade.
“Having developed and delivered materially on the last city-wide investment strategy the city produced in 2011, the intention here is to map out a future plan that captures all the positive attributes the city has to offer such that it can embark upon a new chapter.
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“It’s a very positive step forward and we look forward to working with a wide variety of stakeholders over the coming months to ensure that the framework delivers on the city’s restated ambitions.”
The work by Deloitte will be both informed and supported by the city’s existing Local Plan, which predicts Liverpool’s population will grow by more than 45,000 by 2034.