Home Bargains owner TJ Morris expected to secure planning approval this week to create 250 student apartments at a Liverpool city centre site. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool city council planning officers are recommending approval for a 250-bed student living project in the city centre this week.
In October 2023 TJ Morris, owner of the Home Bargains retail chain, unveiled plans for the new development in the city’s fabric district, close to London Road. It has teamed up with local developer Caro on the project.
This is a site bounded by Audley Street, Ilford Street, Gildart Street, and Kempston Street and is already home to a Home Bargains outlet on the ground floor.
It is next door to Hughes House and Audley House in London Road, formerly home to retailer TJ Hughes. The retailer moved out in summer 2023 and has opened a new store in Church Street. Its previous home has planning consent for 700 apartments.
TJ Morris submitted an application to Liverpool City Council to deliver a scheme rising from three storeys to seven. Parts of the existing building will be demolished.
Work will see warehouses knocked down and the Home Bargains store on Audley Street retained and upgraded.
Speaking in 2023, Neil Carlyle, managing director of Caro Developments, said: “Good design and placemaking are key elements of the project and we are pleased to have brought this submission forward.”
Designed by Falconer Chester Hall, the student scheme would provide 36 studios and 214 one-bedroom units. Councillors on the city’s planning committee are expected to approve the scheme on Tuesday (July 30).
Billionaire owner of TJ Morris, Tom Morris, is also busy elsewhere in the city centre. He is teaming up with Beetham to bring forward a skyscraper cluster on the King Edward Triangle industrial estate close to the waterfront.
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Home Bargains, which enjoys sales of more than £3bn a year, is one of the UK’s biggest budget retailers. It has more than 570 stores across the UK, employing 28,000 people, and its headquarters and main distribution centre are located in North Liverpool.
This week’s planning committee is also expected to approve plans submitted by South Liverpool Homes to build 92 new houses, apartments, and bungalows in the Speke area of the city.