Liverpool signs off 250 student flats, 92 affordable homes
City councillors voted to approve the Caro Developments and TJ Morris Fabric District scheme and South Liverpool Homes’s proposals at its planning committee meeting on Tuesday morning.
Both decisions were in line with officer recommendation.
Fabric District student resi
- Application reference number: 23F/2153
Following a lengthy discussion between councillors regarding fears that the Fabric District is becoming too dominated by student residential, the city council voted to approve Caro Developments and TJ Morris’s 250-flat student accommodation scheme off Kempston Street.
The approval will see the duo demolish several warehouses to make way for a three-to-seven-storey block with 36 studios and 214 one-bed flats. Falconer Chester Hall drew up the designs for the building.
FCH associate director Robert Brym described his approach to the building’s design: “The whole area speaks of the Georgian and Victorian desire to elevate functional buildings through design and materials. There are pleasing flourishes throughout and so our façade treatments, particularly the use of geometric patterns in the brickwork, needed to be able to hold their own.”
As part of the application, a Home Bargains ton the site will be upgraded.
The student plan sits near TJ Morris’s Hughes House and Audley House student residential projects, which have consent for a total of 700 apartments.
“This is a very welcome decision that will see us deliver a high-quality development which improves the street scene and brings more footfall to the area,” said Caro managing director Neil Carlyle.
“Students’ expectations have evolved rapidly since the pandemic, and we’ve incorporated a number of innovations that will ensure the development leads the market. It’s a perfect location, sitting on the doorstep of the Knowledge Quarter.”
TJ Morris development director Dave Little concurred.
“This is very good news and allows us to bring our resources to bear once again on our home city. Liverpool has enormous potential, and we welcome the opportunity to work with a local authority that recognises the role developers can play in job creation, place-making and the city’s wider competitiveness.”
In addition to FCH, the project includes planner Zerum, structural engineer Clancy, and Orion Fire Engineers.
South Liverpool Homes got the green light for its 92 affordable homes. Credit: via planning documents
Lane east of Conleach Road in Speke
- Application reference number: 23F/2562
There was no debate about approving South Liverpool Homes’ plans for 92 residences across five different plots in its Speke housing estate.
The fully affordable project will include 55 homes for affordable rent, 17 for rent-to-buy, and 20 for shared ownership.
There would be 57 houses and 35 apartments, with the flats delivered in two different blocks. The apartments include eight one-bed, walk-up flats and 27 apartments for those over the age of 55. Most of those (17) will be two-bed flats.
The housing mix breaks down to 27 with two bedrooms, 22 with three, two with four, and six that are actually two-bed bungalows.
South Liverpool Homes said the housing mix for the neighbourhood was informed by its current wait list.
Support for the project will come from Homes England.
The project team includes designer Halsall Lloyd Partnership, Urban Green, Mode Transport Planning, Mulberry TMC, Redmore Environmental, and Shape Consulting Engineers.
Bit of a shame that no actual homes for families etc in the Fabric District – for those people who may have come in from abroad to work at Paddington Village, the Royal or School of Tropical Medicine and the 3 universities – think it is missing the trick! And not really helping the Fabric District.
By Bob Dawson
@Bob 12:42 Seen plenty of families leave the city centre once the issue of high schools hoves in to view. In the pit of averageness that is Liverpool’s education system, far better to head south and find yourself a bog-standard comp than risk Shorefields or North Liverpool Academy.
Had to make the same choice myself. Didn’t want to, really, but the sad reality it was no choice at all.
By Heading south
Great work by Mode Transport here
By Danny B
Hopefully the scheme on the Fabric District can be on site asap.
By Anonymous
how much students and landlords pay in community tax to local services atm?
By Anonymous
Anon 6.56pm, before you pick on students how many non council tax payers are there in Liverpool, the last I read was the City Council had written off £250m in non payments.
By Anonymous
Exactly, a lot of non payers across the north west, most are not students
By Anonymous
Non tax payers includes landlords who deliberately orientate their ‘investment’ to attract non council tax payers. Liverpool has a higher number of people who are not in employment (of working age) around 26% many are carers who are penalized if they work as well as care. Obviously this is not sustainable economically as potential local investment is dropped. Lower investment return with working population
By Anonymous
Maybe Liverpool would attract more high profile developers supplying non student accommodation if they didn’t have their strange aversion to high-rise, or if the NIMBYS didn’t get their own way so much by stopping developments.
As for student accommodation developers wouldn’t build it if the demand wasn’t there.
By Anonymous