What happened to the major projects planned for Liverpool five years ago?

The last five years have been a long time for all of us.

We have faced a global pandemic, elections, unrest and we are now approaching the end of the parliamentary term as we go to the polls next month. That’s just nationally, of course.

Liverpool has seen its fair share of challenges and changes in 2019. From political changes to major international events, our city looks very different to what it did heading into the 2020s.

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Or does it? What happened to major projects to reshape Liverpool just five long, or short, depending on your point of view, years ago.

Bixteth Street Gardens

If you’re new to Moorfields or the surrounding areas, you’d be forgiven for not knowing there was once a green space there. Among the stately office buildings, historic pubs and a growing number of coffee shops, there were once treelands and parkland at the heart of the working district.

That was until the £4.2m plan to create more office space was set up in Bixteth Street Gardens. Black boards blocking off the site were put up as the trees were cut down at the start of the preparatory work.

And then, nothing.

The boards – bearing the Liverpool mayor’s name as an indication of the pace of change – remain up, with weeds growing over them. Progress stalled with no sign of work around Pall Mall.

In June last year, a spokesman for developers Kier said: “Following the covid pandemic, we have been working hard with the partnership to promote the commercial scheme. They added: “We appreciate the history and interest in Bixteth Street Gardens and can confirm that once the space is redeveloped, we will create a new and improved green space for local people at the heart of the development.”

For now, though, the wait continues.

of George Henry Lee

For years, the historic former department store sat vacant after Rapid Hardware closed its doors for the last time in 2018.

In October last year, Landlab Developments Ltd obtained planning permission from Liverpool Council to convert the former George Henry Lee building on Basnett Street into a 175-bed hotel and casino. It was hoped the firm, which lists its head office as Mossley Hill, would deliver the site under the Accor Mama Shelter brand.

However, according to an update on Companies House, the developer has fallen into legal action, putting the renovations at risk. When planning permission was obtained last autumn, it had been hoped that contractors would be able to start work almost immediately.

That appears to have now stalled, with London-based Antony Batty & Company appointed as the official receiver. Applying for such an option is an insolvency move where a bank or creditor takes control of the company to recover its debt.

Martin Bank Building

Never mind five years, delays have slowed progress at the Water Street site since 2009. The 210,000-square-foot site was due to be transformed by the end of this year, having been vacant for 15 years.

Like Bixteth Street Gardens, it is also bordered by large barriers to the outside, progress apparently slow on any work to repurpose the building into a 215-room hotel. During the city’s filming boom, the site served as the backdrop for a number of major international projects.

According to the building’s own website, developers want to create a work, social and restaurant space near Water Street, but it remains to be seen if 2024 will be the year.

The Festival Gardens

After being under-used and left in disrepair for years, the huge waterfront green space was bought by Liverpool Council for £6m almost a decade ago. In 2019, the local authority secured government funding to help prepare the land for future housing.

Over the past two years, more than 400,000 cubic meters of soil and waste have been removed from the Festival Gardens development site, land that has been used as a public waste dump for more than 30 years. Last August, a 24-acre leisure space called the Southern Grasslands opened for the first time following a huge remediation program to prepare the neighboring site for new homes.

Located three miles south of Liverpool city center and within walking distance of St Michael’s Merseyrail station, the Southern Grasslands is the largest converted green space opened in the city this century and is almost five times the size of Liverpool One’s Chavasse Park.

Liverpool Council’s main contractor, VINCI Building, began work to transform the former landfill and south meadows in early 2021. The mammoth excavation program also included an additional £6 million program of works of ground infrastructure to provide drainage and build a substation to supply electricity. for future development.

The package of works was jointly funded by Liverpool Council, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Homes England and OFGEM.

Kier Construction and Lendlease have been contacted for comment.

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