£50m waterfront development to go under microscope

PLANS for the £50m “mid-rise” Baltic Tower on the waterfront site in Liverpool’s southern docklands go before city planners early next week.

The application by developer Elliot Group will be considered by the City Council’s planning committee on Tuesday, April 19.

This follows a successful design review of the company’s initial proposals and will now see two blocks of 15 and 14 storeys put forward on the site overlooking Liverpool’s new exhibition centre.

Consultants from Liverpool council’s urban design team, from English Heritage and from scheme architects Falconer Chester Hall had been tasked with identifying the most appropriate height and scale for the development in the light of the need to protect views of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral.

The result, says developer Elliot Lawless, will define the scale of future schemes in the neighbourhood and give developers certainty.
 
“If approved the scheme will set the bar for height in Baltic,” he said. “It was never feasible that a southern cluster of high rise buildings would match that in the north end of the city centre but it was also never clear what was permissible or desirable.”
 
“We’ve got certainty now and the process has been highly constructive. Our aim now is to deliver a scheme that brings larger, owner-occupied apartments to the market suitable for people down-sizing from the suburbs.”
 
The project will provide 253 apartments at the site at the bottom of Norfolk Street with amenities including an on-site residents’ gym, an outdoor spa, basement parking and high quality landscaping.

There will also be a ground floor ‘entrepreneurs’ hub’ for the area’s burgeoning start-up enterprises.

Meanwhile, Elliot Group confirmed that work on four of its key city projects is ahead of schedule.  It says that “tight project management and an innovative contractor” mean that the four schemes, totaling £55m and 770 apartments, studios and student homes are each more than a month ahead of schedule.

The developments, at Queensland Street on the eastern boundary of the university campus, at Parliament Place next to the Women’s Hospital and two sites in Norfolk Street, are all scheduled to be finished in the summer.

WYG are project managers and Newry Construction the contractors on all schemes.