Peel L&P secured planning permission for a 100,000 sq ft office building in Liverpool Waters back in 2015 and now the scheme is set for a revival. Tony McDonough reports
Peel L&P is looking to revive a 100,000 sq ft office scheme in Liverpool Waters – eight years after it first secured planning consent.
At the MIPIM property expo in Cannes in March 2015, Peel L&P revealed plans for the 10-storey scheme to be called William Jessop House. It would offer 100,000 sq ft of grade A space. It secured planning consent in June of the same year.
The building would be located on William Jessop Way in Princes Dock between the multi-storey car park and the Moda Living’s £82m, 34-storey residential skyscraper, the Lexington, which was completed in 2021.
According to Peel L&P at the time, the design was inspired by the location’s history as part of the city’s historic port. Taking stacked shipping containers as a visual cue the designers produced a building offering individual 10,000 sq ft floorplates.
However, the project never came to fruition. Liverpool’s office market has been dogged for years by grade A rents considered too low for speculative development. Another planned office scheme at nearby Pall Mall is also being held back for the same reason.
But despite the tough economic climate there are reasons for optimism of a revival in the office market. Although not yet full, The Spine office development in Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter did secure the Royal College of Physicians as an anchor tenant and has secured other lettings.
That scheme was backed by the city council and it has prompted plans for a second 120,000 sq ft office building in the area called HEMISPHERE. This would also be backed by the council via the Sciontec property vehicle.
There is also optimism that the imminent launch of the Liverpool city region Freeport will see a demand for commercial space.
Peel L&P told LBN there were still plans to develop the Princes Dock site – called plot A03 – with more news to be revealed in the coming months.
The company is also due to press on with a residential development located at the end of the same row in Princes Dock. Work was due to start in 2021 on the £50m Patagonia Place but developer Your Housing Group pulled out of the project. Earlier this year Peel L&P told LBN it was talking to other potential partners for the scheme.