Elliot’s Paramount eyes finish after delays

The developer has appointed Newry Construction as main contractor and intends to complete the 488-bed student scheme in Liverpool in time for the start of the September academic year.

Work will officially restart on the London Road project in the coming fortnight, following a spate of delays related to the previous developer Pinnacle Student Developments Liverpool going bust in 2018 and, later, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Liverpool-based Elliot Group acquired Paramount from Pinnacle’s administrators in July 2019 and set about finalising delivery of the 488-bed student accommodation scheme whose construction began in 2014.

Pinnacle had planned to deliver a scheme to house 488 students, together with 150 underground car parking spaces and several ground floor commercial units.

Several of the units were completed and occupied, but the building’s façade remains incomplete and much of the scheme has lain empty since work halted early last year because of the pandemic. Elliot had said it was investing £8m in the Paramount project and intended to complete it by last September.

Part of the work includes removing the insulation and other materials behind the cladding and replacing them with materials that comply with the latest fire regulations.

Elliot retained two of the principal sub-contractors who lost money when Pinnacle collapsed. These were WDS Commercial and BAK UK, who were to part of the project team initially managed by Elliot Group’s own subsidiary Exchange Construction. Failed contractor PHD1 was also attached to the scheme before it too entered administration in April 2016.

Newry Construction is now the main contractor.

The site next to Lime Street station previously housed an Odeon Cinema that was knocked down in 2010. Around 120 investors are believed to have purchased units in Paramount and are pushing for its swift completion.