Mixed use scheme for Stanley Dock gets green light

AN IRISH property developer has been granted planning approval to convert a former tobacco warehouse at Liverpool’s Stanley Dock into a mixed-use scheme containing offices, retail, leisure and live/work units.

Stanley Dock Properties, owned by Dublin-based Patrick Doherty, has reworked plans initially put forward three years ago to convert the warehouse as part of a wider scheme to redevelop Stanley Docks.

Its new plan for the warehouse contains almost half as many apartments, but considerably more office and public exhibition space.

The approved development contains 44,000 sq ft of office space, 10,700 sq ft of retail and 9,000 sq ft of restaurants and bars. The development will also contain 36,000 sq ft of public exhibition space, 576 car parking spaces and 335 “live/work” units.

The live/work units will also be much bigger than previously-proposed apartments, containing double-height rooms with an average of 1,300 sq ft of floorspace.

In its application, Stanley Dock Properties said that it also intended to bring forward new planning applications for surrounding buildings at the dock in 2012, particularly the North and South warehouses.

“Preparation of planning applications for this part of the project is underway and it is likely that proposals will be brought forward for a mix of commercial development and hotel uses for the two other warehouses,” it said.

Planning officers had recommended that the scheme should be approved, stating that the warehouse’s redevelopment “will be the first step on the way for future regeneration in the surrounding area and furthermore that it will encourage the applicant to bring forward their proposals for the rest of the Stanley Dock complex”.

The Stanley Dock scheme was recently included as part of a programme which gained £25m from the most recent round of Regional Growth Fund (RGF) awards. The North Liverpool City Fringe Employment and Investment programme was co-ordinated by the city council’s economic development arm, Liverpool Vision, which has said that it could lead to 1,780 new jobs being created in an area between Liverpool city centre and the Liverpool Waters Enterprise Zone.

Liverpool Vision’s programme director, Ian McCarthy, said: “I am delighted the scheme has secured planning consent, starting this scheme will be a massive step forward in the wider plans for North Liverpool & South Sefton.

“Stanley Dock has enormous potential to provide a very special live – work environment, which is very much a working pattern of the future. The development has potential to provide accountable job opportunities for local residents, both in construction and when completed.”