Hunt for developer for £200m office block scheme in city

A EUROPE-wide search has been launched for a developer to build a £200m office block on a site adjacent to the former Exchange Station in Liverpool.

Liverpool City Council has bought the 1.2 hectare site from the Government’s Homes and Communities and is now aiming to work with a contractor to develop it the space behind Tithebarn Street into Grade A office space.

The 400,000sq ft development would ease the shortage of high quality office space and attract businesses and more than 1,000 jobs to the city, say council bosses.

It would cover part of plot between Pall Mall and Bixteth Street and consume a small park and part of the old site currently used for car parking.

The development would sit behind the new St Paul’s Square office development The Plaza, the former Littlewoods headquarters now home to many businesses.

Exchange Station, which is not involved in the development, closed in 1977 after Merseyrail’s Moorfields station was opened and its frontage on Tithebarn Street was converted into an office block but the land where the platforms were has been unused since then.

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: “We know that we need more top quality office accommodation in Liverpool and this site is in the right location, next to the existing Commercial District and a stone’s throw away from the Merseyrail underground.

“As a growing city, it is vital we have the right office space available in the right place and Pall Mall is part of a natural expansion of the commercial district.

“We’ve already seen huge success in securing the Northern headquarters of The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) at the expanded Knowledge Quarter, and this is another opportunity to create accommodation that will attract employers offering high quality jobs.”