Civic society seeks to thwart Joseph Heap plans
MERSEYSIDE Civic Society is seeking a spot listing of the derelict Joseph Heap & Sons rice mill to protect it from being demolished to make way for an 800-apartment scheme.
TheBusinessDesk.com yesterday revealed how a company based in the Seychelles called One Park Lane had submitted two applications for seven residential towers close to Albert Dock.
The development would occupy two parcels of land off Park Lane in the Baltic Triangle district of the city.
One of them is currently occupied by the Joseph Heap building while the other is a surface car park behind the Hotel Ibis.
The civic society was unaware of the plans when it submitted its application on the grounds of the building’s architectural and historical significance.
Chairman Peter Brown told TheBusinessDesk.com: “To demolish the building would be a disaster. It’s quite a distinctive piece of heritage of the port’s history. It made an important contribution and is quite rare.
“There are lots of cotton mills, but not many rice mills and it was an important strand of business the dock was doing. The key issue is what use can be found for the building. It would be helpful if part of it could have some commercial use and other parts retained to demonstrate its former role.”
English Heritage has told the society it is treating the Joseph Heap bid as a “hot” case which means it will take priority over other applications, and it hopes to visit the property next month. A decision by the council on the plans is expected later in the summer.
According to details filed at the council, the Joseph Heap mill would be replaced by five towers, between 10 and 25 storeys, and a total of 515 apartments. The car park would be occupied by two towers of a similar height containing 284 apartments.
The application for the Joseph Heap site says the developer wants to, “redevelop the site following the demolition of all buildings by the erection of five blocks”.
In both cases there would also be commercial space on the ground floor and car parking.There is little additional information available with no planning statement having been filed with the council’s planning department.
The Joseph Heap mill was in use until 2005 before the company moved to a new base to the north of the city. It has been the subject of other plans, including a 2006 application by US developer Apollo Bannertown to include it with a new build element in a 355-apartment scheme.
The planning application is being handled by Liverpool-based agent Roman Summer Associates which could not be reached for further comment.
