Hotel replaces a formerly-consented 142-unit apartment scheme and is designed to ‘capitalise on known operator demand in Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter. Tony McDonough reports
Developer Elliot Group has secured planning consent for a 278-bed hotel at its £100m Aura scheme in Liverpool.
The hotel replaces a formerly-consented 142-unit apartment scheme and is designed to “capitalise on known operator demand” in the expanding Knowledge Quarter immediately to the south, says Elliot Group director Elliot Lawless.
The Aura scheme is currently on site, with Liverpool-based contractor Vermont delivering more than a thousand new student beds over two blocks. The gross development value of the project will be £100m when complete.
“We know from the competition among operators to secure the hotel at Paddington Village that there is unmet demand for quality accommodation in the Knowledge Quarter,” said Mr Lawless.
“Our proposals will enable operators keen to service the area’s growing business, medical and academic sectors to secure a prominent site in the heart of the area.”
The Falconer Chester Hall-designed project will improve the street-scene in the immediate area, bringing additional footfall and animation to the key junction of Prescot Street and Low Hill, believes architect Andrew Shave.
He added: “The former industrial uses on the site made this a rather dead junction. The scheme opens up the frontages, setting a standard for design quality, while proposing heights that are respectful of historic buildings, stepping up to a prominent junction.”
Paddington Village is a £1bn extension to Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter promoted by the city council and has already secured a four-star Novotel as its anchor hotel. Work is also progressing on a number of other developments on the site, including the new northern base for the Royal College of Physicians and the Rutherford Cancer Centre.
Zerum Consult advised Elliot Group on the planning application.