Homes developer Your Housing Group has pulled out of a £50m development on Liverpool waterfront that would have offered 278 apartments in a 31-storey tower. Tony McDonough reports
A £50m high-rise residential development on Liverpool waterfront that has been beset with delays is on hold again after developer Your Housing Group (YHG) pulled out.
It is the second time YHG has failed to deliver on the plot at Princes Dock in Liverpool Waters. Work was due to start last year on Patagonia Place, a 31-storey scheme offering 278 apartments for rent.
LBN understands that following months of discussions with Peel L&P, owners of the site, YHG has decided to pull out of the project. However, Peel L&P has told LBN it has already lined up another developer for the site and hopes to make a further announcement in the next few weeks.
Early in 2018, Peel L&P was hailing plans for a trio of stunning residential blocks that were set to rise from the ground at Princes Dock. Two of those have now been delivered and have tenants living in them – Moda Living’s £82m, 34-storey skyscraper, the Lexington, and the £21m 16-storey Plaza 1821, built by the Regenda Group.
Valued at £55m, Hive City Docks was to offer 278 apartments, also rising to 31 storeys, and was to be delivered by YHG and designed by Brock Carmichael. It secured planning consent in 2017 and groundworks began in 2018 but, by the end of the summer of that year, all work had ground to a halt with no explanation.
This was followed by a period when neither YHG nor Peel L&P would make any comment on the future of the development. In June 2019, YHG responded to a query from a Twitter user about the development, saying “…we’re afraid Hive no longer exists”.
A statement issued to LBN shortly after that, from YHG’s development director Lorraine Donnelly, read: “The tower at Liverpool Waters remains one of our flagship projects and we hope to start on site in August. We are working collaboratively with our partners to create a bespoke design for this prestigious location.”
Work didn’t start in August 2019 and it wasn’t until October 2020 that YHG secured planning consent for Patagonia Place, a scheme with similar specs to Hive City Docks. The name was a nod to the port’s historic links to Patagonia. It was from Liverpool in the 19th century that 153 Welsh people set sail for a new life in South America.
In March 2021, media outlet Place North West reported that a legal agreement had been signed between YHG and Liverpool City Council that paved the way for main contractor Vermont to start work. And then nothing happened.
In the last few days YHG has told LBN that its board had decided (a decision it said it actually made last year) not to move forward with the scheme due to “the group’s focus on the post-COVID recovery and the provision of affordable homes”. It has now transferred ownership of the site back to Peel L&P.
YHG’s deputy chief executive, Jacque Allen, said: “Last year the decision was taken by our board not to continue moving forward with the Princess Dock development. We would like to thank all those who have worked to bring this scheme to market, particularly the team at Peel L&P, for their incredible support.
“YHG remains fully committed to our £480m investment in the development of new affordable homes over the next five years and the schemes we have planned remain on target to be delivered.
“We are already one of the UK’s largest housing providers with 29,000 homes across the North West, Yorkshire and the Midlands and our board remains committed to helping solve the national housing crisis by providing new housing with diverse options for tenure.”
Chris Capes, director of development at Peel L&P’s Liverpool Waters, added: “We remain confident that the development, as approved by Liverpool City Council, is a high-quality proposition that meets the needs of the local market.
“We understand YHG’s decision, and – have now taken back ownership and control of the site. We are actively working with another partner to bring the development forward as planned. We will be making a fuller statement in the near future.”