Developer submits planning application for £50m scheme
Liverpool-based developer Elliot Group has submitted a planning application to develop a 15-storey, £50m apartment block on a key site in the city’s booming Baltic neighbourhood.
The Bridgewater Street site, formerly a base for electrical wholesaler Eyre & Elliston, was acquired by the developer in November 2019, and is now earmarked for a 232-unit residential development – named Duke’s Village – with eight ground floor commercial units totalling 12,000 sq ft.
Group founder, Elliot Lawless, said: “Our aim is to develop a high-end, institutional-grade PRS scheme that maximises the site’s waterfront views.
“The area is crying out for more commercial space, too, so we hope to be able to plug some of that gap,” he added.
He said the company is continuing its migration from the fractional sales model that secured the delivery of almost 3,000 homes.
The move follows the lettings success of the NatWest-funded Address development in Liverpool’s Ropewalks and is “a natural next step” in the company’s evolution.
“The market has shown its appetite for rental properties with high levels of fit-out and amenity.
“We’ve let 124 homes at The Address in just over eight weeks and aim to offer institutions another opportunity to benefit from the resilience of the Liverpool economy.”
The 173,000 sq ft building has been designed by the Liverpool studio of Falconer Chester Hall. Scheme architect, Robert Brym, said the waterfront location offers considerable potential.
“The site offers amazing views North West to the Pier Head and over the Royal Albert Dock and Queen’s Dock.
“There’s water, heritage and hills whatever way you look and all the buzz of Baltic on the doorstep. Our aim is to capture this in our design and the building’s fenestration.”
The scheme will include four parking spaces and 232 cycle bays.
The professional team on the project include engineers Clancy, planning consultants Zerum, DTPC (transport), AEC (acoustics) and Layer (landscape).
Lawless says he anticipates the application will be heard in early February and, should it receive planning permission, would hope to be on site in Spring 2021.
Bridgewater Street is named after the Duke of Bridgewater, as is the nearby Duke’s Dock, which will be visible from the upper floor apartments.
Duke’s Dock was opened in 1773 to handle coal from the Duke of Bridgewater’s mines near Manchester. The coal was transported to Runcorn along the Bridgewater Canal before the barges entered the Mersey and sailed downstream to Liverpool.
