Developer Nextdom secures planning consent for £83m Liverpool city centre residential scheme that was forced to reduce its height by seven storeys. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool council planners have approved an £83m residential scheme in the city centre after the developer agreed to cut seven storeys off the height.
In April 2022, Nextdom submitted a planning application to build two blocks, comprising 550 apartments, on Pall Mall to the north of the city’s commercial district. One block would have risen to 17 storeys while the other to 10 storeys.
However, LBN reported in February that, following discussions with city council planning officers the developer has cut the height of the blocks.
Block A will rise from six to ten storeys, providing 294 apartments, and block B, with a curved frontage, will offer 141 apartments across seven storeys.
Located on the corner of Chadwick Street and Pall Mall, the Falconer Chester Hall-designed scheme will include 12,400 sq ft of ground-floor commercial and retail space, with parking for 130 cars and a bike space for each apartment.
It will offer 196 one-bed apartments, with 239 two-bed homes and there will be 18,200 sq ft of amenity space between the rear facades of the buildings at podium level.
Philip Didlick from Nextdom said: “This was a tricky consent to negotiate because our work spanned the emergence of the new local plan and supplementary guidance on tall buildings.
“It was a bit of a moveable feast for a while but a partnership approach with the council saw us over the line. I’m pleased with the outcome.”
Zerum acted as planning consultant to the applicant. Heritage Architecture provided heritage advice with Redmore Environmental advising on ecology.
Quentin Keohane, director at Falconer Chester Hall, added: “This is a wide street and so it was imperative that whatever built form was re-introduced was of the right scale.
“The development sets a precedent for what is an area in transition and will set the tone for future schemes.”
In the last couple of years the city council has hardened its approach to tall buildings in the city centre. The issue was at the heart of a decade-long stand-off with UNESCO which eventually saw World Heritage Status taken away from the city in July 2021.