Approval recommended for city centre’s latest student accommodation block

Plans to build a seven-storey student accommodation block, providing 14 studios and 85 cluster bedrooms, have been recommended for approval at next Tuesday’s (November 12) Liverpool City Council Planning Committee.

The proposal is by Liverpool-based Molyneux Developments in Gildart Street, near the city centre, in Brownlow Hill Ward.

The plans also include ground floor flexible use.

The site is occupied by a two storey brick warehouse with an adjacent parking/loading area which last operated as a textile retailer.

It is one block back from the London Road District Centre and also falls within both the Fabric District and the Knowledge Quarter area designations.

London Road is a key shopping area offering a range of retail and food and drink uses at the ground floor level with many of the upper levels in residential use.

On the opposite side of Gildart Street lies Kexgill Court (No.19 Gildart Street), a six-storey block of student accommodation next to the development site owned by Liverpool retailer, TJ Morris, which secured planning approval for new-build student accommodation in July this year.

The application seeks planning permission to carry out the demolition of the existing building and the erection of a seven-storey mixed use development, including the formation of a basement.

Plans include eight cluster units providing 85 bedspaces – 86% of bedspaces – each with between 9-10 student bedrooms and served by a communal kitchen/lounge/diner space.

The student accommodation proposals include ground floor reception, gym, amenity and study spaces, accessible wc, basement laundry, secure cycle store and refuse facilities.

The self-contained commercial unit would provide around 162 sq metres. The scheme does not include any car parking. The basement will have capacity for 116 cycle spaces.

Recommending the scheme for approval, planning officers say the student accommodation and commercial uses proposed would contribute positively towards a diverse and complimentary mix of uses within the Fabric District in a highly accessible location, add to the future growth of the Knowledge Quarter and create a sustainable form of development.

They say the proposed building is of an appropriate scale, height and massing and will improve the visual amenity of the area, increase footfall and surveillance within the surrounding streets, and assist to protect and enhance the role and function of the London Road District Centre.

The officers’ notes add: “Furthermore, it is considered that the proposed student accommodation will offer a good level of amenity to all future residents and will have no undue impact upon the operation of nearby businesses or residential occupiers.”