Work will start on a £10m hotel and retail scheme on Dale Street, Liverpool, in the New Year after the scheme was approved by city planners.
Northern Ireland developer the Benmore Group is behind the proposals which incorporate a hotel, car park and retail unit and which they believe will help regenerate a key route in the city centre, attract new investors and service a demand for high quality hotel bedroom space in the city.The scheme has been designed by Liverpool architect Falconer Chester Hall taking due consideration of its location within a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The site itself is occupied by three unused buildings, which have fallen into disrepair, one of which is the Pioneer Buildings which will have its façade retained, at great expense to the developer, and married into a new build 123-bed hotel through the use of sympathetic materials, designed to respect surrounding buildings.
Benmore Chief Executive David Burrows said: “We’re delighted to have secured approval and look forward to bringing the scheme to completion. It has the potential to be a transformational scheme in its context, helping to kickstart the regeneration of a key city thoroughfare and preserving the facade of a historic building at the same time. We have pre-let the entire scheme to 3 international occupiers which is a credit to the design and location.”
Adam Hall, Managing Director of FCH, added: “It’s always a challenge working in such a historic setting. We have made use of brick and stone as used elsewhere on Dale Street so it is very respectful of its context, but equally it is striking and will bring some energy back to the Dale Street area of the city, hopefully bringing other empty buildings back into play in the future.
“We also have gone to great lengths to retain the façade and chimneys of one of the buildings which is acknowledged as being of architectural merit.”
The development also includes a multi-storey car park with 285 spaces and a 313 sq m retail unit on the ground floor fronting Dale Street.
“We needed to ensure that the development gives a good, active frontage to Dale Street and that the ground floor is lively and interesting,” added Adam Hall.
The Benmore Group’s activities encompass property investment, commercial and residential property development and land regeneration.
The company has property holdings across the UK including in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Scotland. The portfolio value of completed and proposed developments schemes is in excess of £1 billion and includes exciting schemes including a 5* hotel in the centre of Manchester.
