£30m plans to restore Liverpool’s iconic North Western Hotel after 85 years
Plans have been submitted to convert one of Liverpool’s most iconic buildings back to a hotel, more than eight decades after its closure.
Marcus Worthington Group is working with architects Leach Rhodes Walker on the ambitious £30m refurbishment project of the North Western Halls.
It would see the grade II-listed building next to Lime Street station turned into a prestigious 202-bedroom hotel with bar and restaurant facilities, a gym and meeting spaces.
An international hotel operator has been lined up to take on the building with an expected opening date of 2020, subject to planning consent.
Designed by Sir Alfred Waterhouse, and formerly known as the North Western Hotel, the building was used as offices following its closure as a hotel in 1933.
For the past 22 years it has been used as student accommodation.
Marcus Worthington Group acquired the property from Liverpool John Moores University earlier this year.
Russell Worthington, development director for Marcus Worthington Group, said: “The North Western was part of that great series of railway hotels which also included The Midland in Manchester and the St Pancras Midland in London.
“It’s a building deserving of its original intended purpose as a railway hotel and it will benefit the city to have it back in public use for people to enjoy after many decades of being used privately.
“We’re working with a high-quality hotel and lifestyle brand on this project, a brand that can add real energy to the area and improve the visitor experience, especially for those visitors arriving by train at Lime Street.”
He added: “The project will preserve historical features of the hotel and, in some instances, restore features that were hidden during the building’s last refurbishment.
“It will help to conserve this important heritage asset for many more decades to come.”
The North Western Hotel opened in 1871.
The building is constructed in stone with a slate roof in the Renaissance Revival style, resembling a French château.
It is one of four iconic buildings in the Lime Street ‘corridor’ along with St George’s Hall, Lime Street station, and the World Museum and Central Library.
Architect Sir Alfred Waterhouse also designed the Natural History Museum, Manchester Town Hall and Manchester’s Refuge Assurance Building, which is now the Principal Hotel.
The project team for the hotel refurbishment includes Turley as heritage and planning consultants, Fairhurst as structural consultants, Hoare Lea as M&E consultants, Fisher Acoustics, and Vectos as transport planners.
