Golden development opportunity as council puts 7.6 acres of waterfront land up for sale

Liverpool City Council has fired the starting gun on a race to sell nearly eight acres of prime waterfront land for development.

The authority acquired the 7.6-acre site at Kings Dock in September for just £1 from Homes England.

Now it is seeking expressions of interest to develop multimillion-pound schemes on the site to add to highly-successful projects nearby, such as the Arena and Convention Centre and the Liverpool Exhibition Centre, which have put the city on the map for a variety of global events and pulled in millions of visitors and conference delegates.

The Kings Dock estate currently attracts 7.7m visitors a year.

The council wants developers to submit plans for schemes such as hotels, leisure attractions, homes and offices as part of a two-stage bidding process for the land, which has been broken up into seven separate plots ranging from 0.45 acres to 2.79 acres.

They said they would like offers from interested parties “who have proven experience and track record in delivering high quality landmark schemes, with a focus on working with the city council to deliver at pace”.

The council will also be looking at the quality of design in the public spaces within the dock, and how it connects to surrounding parts of the city centre.

The M&S Bank Arena on the Kings Dock

CBRE, which has been appointed to manage the two-stage bidding process, described the riverside location as an opportunity for developers to deliver individual or multiple plots for high quality, mixed-use development.

Expressions of interest are invited by January 24, 2020. The draft strategy will then go out to public consultation.