Comprising 200 apartments, the £36m project will be built on the site of the former headquarters of social care charity PSS in Seel Street, part of a wider regeneration scheme. Tony McDonough reports
Developer Elliot Group has unveiled plans for an 11-storey luxury apartment block as part of its regeneration of Wolstenholme Square in Liverpool city centre.
Comprising 200 apartments, the £36m project will be built on the site of the former headquarters of social care charity PSS in Seel Street.
Elliot has submitted a planning application for the 151,620 sq ft scheme which will also feature two commercial units and a rooftop terrace for residents.
Homes will be divided between studios, of which there will be 32, 102 one-bed apartments and 66 two-bed homes.
“We’ve worked really hard to develop a scheme that not only adds value to the surrounding streetscape, but also takes the wider Wolstenholme Square project forward in terms of amenity and the range of homes offered,” said Elliot Lawless of Elliot Group.
“We’ve been able to introduce more two-bed apartments and the additional commercial space will be key to our strategy of animating the development at street level.”
Before the building was the headquarters of PSS it was originally the site of a Beatles museum called Beatle City, which opened in 1984 but did not last long.
It was painted yellow with circular windows so as to depict the Fab Four hit ‘Yellow Submarine’.
We’re creating a fantastic rooftop terrace with real wow-factor and stunning views. Every resident will be able to enjoy it and there’ll be nothing of this quality in the city,” said architect Adam Hall of Falconer Chester Hall.
Elliot Group is currently building out its existing planning approval for Wolstenholme Square, which will see it provide 447 studio and one-bedroom apartments, with a revamped square below and a new landscaped passage through to Seel Street.
Work has also started nearby on a £20m hotel called the Times Hotel by Vincent which will feature a rooftop pool and spa.
Wolstenholme Square was laid out in 1750 as a fine gentleman’s residential square, with most of its Georgian buildings subsequently redeveloped during Liverpool’s headlong rush to maritime pre-eminence in the 19th century.
Several Georgian gems have survived on the square’s west side, but the remainder of the square was heavily bomb-damaged in the Blitz and its buildings replaced with low-density warehousing in the 1950s.