Developer Elliot Lawless revives £170m plan for Liverpool’s Heaps Rice Mill

Elliot founder Elliot Lawless has formed a joint venture with Anthony Maxwell-Jones of Valorem Investment Partners to purchase the £170m One Park Lane development. Tony McDonough reports

Heaps Rice Mill forms part of he £170m One Park Lane development

 

Developer Elliot Group is reviving the redevelopment of Liverpool’s Heap’s Rice Mill after buying the site back.

Elliot founder Elliot Lawless has formed a joint venture with Anthony Maxwell-Jones of Valorem Investment Partners to purchase the £170m One Park Lane development after originally selling it to Inhabit.

Planing permission to crate more than 700 homes at the site was secured by Elliot in 2014 and then sold it to Inhabit a year later. Inhabit never took the scheme forward and Heaps Rice Mill, on the edge of the city centre and close to the Baltic district, remained untouched.

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Now architects at Falconer Chester Hall are working on a new scheme with the GradeII-listed Victorian Heaps Rice Mill warehouse at its centre, with the building being converted to apartments that would be sold to owner-occupiers only. 

Four other new blocks would also be included in the mixed-use scheme which could include a restaurant and a new public square. Mr Lawless and Mr Maxwell-Jones are promising to begin work before the end of 2019.

“We’ve worked really hard to structure a deal that gives us control once again and we’re delighted to be in the driving seat,” said Mr Lawless.  “There was good will on all sides and it helped us get it over the line.  We’re now keen to get on site and deliver what will be a game-changing project for that part of the southern waterfront.”

Me Maxwell-Jones added that the new plan is to deliver the project in phases and confirmed that discussions with both funding partners and occupiers are on-going.

“We’re talking to multiple end-users and have some very interesting options on the table,” he said.  “We’ll deliver the project in phases and we’re still open to suggestions about the final mix of uses and operators.”

And Mr Lawless confirmed that the listed Heap’s Mill will be reserved for local owner occupiers keen to secure a larger than average footprint in the city centre in a unique building with heritage. 

He explained: “Heap’s Mill is a fantastic building that lends itself more to owner occupiers who want heritage and extra space. Buyers will have to commit to live there themselves and we see that as helping embed a stable community in the wider development.”

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