Plans in for Liverpool’s exhibition hall

THE planning application has gone in for the new £40m exhibition and events centre in Liverpool.

It details a 170,000 sq ft building, and around 90,000 sq ft of this will be exhibition space.

It also includes a 113,000 sq ft, 200-bed hotel and a bridge linking the site with the existing Arena and Convention Centre (ACC).

It has been submitted by Liverpool-based planning consultant IBI Taylor Young on behalf of the city council. The proposed location of the new building at Kings Dock is owned by the government’s Homes and Communities Agency.

The council hopes to have the site finished by spring 2015 and in its first year of operation it is expected to host about 50 events and attract some 250,000 visitors.

ACC chiefs estimate that the exhibition and event programme will support 1,300 jobs in the wider economy and contribute around £40m in economic benefit a year to the Merseyside area.

London-based ISG, which has offices in Manchester and Liverpool, has already been awarded the contract to build the exhibition hall.