The authority, headed by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, has approved in principle a £12m grant for infrastructure work to unlock development that will support employment for 870 people. Tony McDonough reports
A £12m investment from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority will help kickstart the city’s Paddington Village development – part of the £1bn Knowledge Quarter project.
The authority, headed by Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, has approved in principle a £12m grant for infrastructure work to unlock development that will support employment for 870 people.
The grant will pay for enabling works, including demolition of existing buildings and bringing services to the site, on the central 8.4 acres of the 30-acre Paddington Village, which is the flagship scheme of KQ Liverpool.
This funding, from the Combined Authority’s Single Investment Fund, will help pave the way for the first phase of construction at Paddington Village, which sits within one of the city’s Mayoral Development Zones.
Economic value
The Paddington Village scheme will see the arrival of the Royal College of Physician’s (RCP) new £35m northern base, a new learning centre for the Liverpool International College and the new £35m Rutherford Cancer Centre North West.
It is claimed the combined annual economic value of the developments for the city region would be £58m.
Planning permission has already been granted for the international college and cancer centre, both of which are scheduled to open in 2019, and an application from the RCP is expected in early 2018.
There has been interest from a number of science and health-based organisations about taking up office space at Paddington Village, with a further 140,000 sq ft of office developments, in addition to the RCP North building, planned to meet that demand.
Science-based asset
Cllr Ann O’Byrne, Deputy Mayor of Liverpool, said: “Paddington Village is part of Mayor Anderson’s vision for a new high quality science-based asset for Liverpool.
“After building a new school to relocate Archbishop Blanch the city council has created a prime city centre site of 30 acres to enable this exciting knowledge based development to come to fruition.”
Colin Sinclair, chief executive of KQ Liverpool, adde: “Paddington Village is one of the most exciting and innovative schemes in the Northern Powerhouse and will further contribute to the £5bn plus Health and Life Science cluster that already exists in Liverpool City Region.
“With the hoardings up at Paddington, and this vital investment in the site infrastructure now in place, we have taken a huge step towards KQ Liverpool becoming a world-leading innovation district and a global destination for science health and education.”