A new plan for a key gateway site in Liverpool’s Chinatown has been unveiled.

The ‘New Chinatown’ scheme would see around 800 residential units including apartments and town houses built on the Great George Street site, along with 200,000 square feet of commercial space.

It is being developed by North Point Global (China Town Developments Limited) the development-arm of established local construction firm PHD1, which has concluded a deal to buy an interest in the site which was held by Urban Splash.

The site, close to the Anglican Cathedral and runs up to the Black-E community arts centre, has lain derelict for many years. A listed building which houses a bridal shop on the site will be retained.

Deputy Mayor, Councillor Ann O’Byrne, said:

“This is a key site in Chinatown right on a main route into the city centre and has fantastic potential, particularly as it lies so close to the city centre and the Baltic Triangle.

“PHD1 have come up with a really exciting project which will completely transform this patch of land and will be the catalyst to breathe new life into the wider area.

“They have devised some extremely innovative ideas around developing links with China and the universities to create a substantial numbers of new jobs and bring a completely new commercial and retail offer to the area.

“We are already working with Liverpool Mutual Homes on developing new homes on Duncan Street which will further contribute to the renaissance of this part of the city.

“I would like to thank Urban Splash for working closely with us and PHD1 to see these development plans progress.”

Consultation is getting underway with the local community, with a two day public exhibition at Studio 2 Parr Street on Sunday the 12th and Monday 13th of July from 11am to 8pm.

In addition, the development team will be holding a series of face to face meetings with local community groups and businesses and distributing 10,000 copies of a bi-lingual consultation newsletter to homes and businesses in the area.

Under the proposal, the site will be developed in three phases, with a planning application for the first phase expected to be submitted during the summer.

Project Director for the scheme Antonio Garcia from BLOK Architecture commented:

“We are delighted to have been selected to take this exciting site forward. From the very outset we viewed this development as an historic opportunity to be the catalyst for the regeneration of Chinatown.

“We are offering a dynamic mixed-use scheme that will bring people and business to the area and make it an international quality destination.

“One of the most important elements of our vision, which we have developed with our Chinese investors, is the creation of up to 200 new Chinese businesses with the potential to create over 1,000 jobs.

“We view this as one of the most important and potentially transformational development opportunities in Liverpool.”