Composed complexity
Estates Gazette
07/10/2006
Despite financial pressures, Grosvenor’s massive £1bn redevelopment of Liverpool city centre is beginning to become visible. David Quinn reports
From a nearby roof top, the last few empty buildings on Paradise Street are dwarfed by the white, dusty presence of one of the largest building sites in Europe.
But Grosvenor’s £1bn redevelopment of central Liverpool’s retail core has recently been making headlines, and not because of its physical scale. Instead, all the talk has been about the financial burden it has created for its developer.
It was revealed last month that Grosvenor is to set aside between £50m and £90m in its annual accounts to support the development, which will eat directly into profits. Meanwhile, in Preston, fears are growing that the size of Liverpool One has reduced the company’s capacity to develop its proposed £450m Tithebarn scheme.
Grosvenor says it will absorb the financial hit in Liverpool itself, leaving the consortium of backers which include Hermes and Middle Eastern clients of Arlington Securities unscathed.
But with the scheme so much at the heart of Liverpool’s rejuvenation, and timed to coincide with the city’s coronation as Capital of Culture in 2008, the announcement has raised eyebrows locally.
In the meantime, however, the 42-acre development is moving forward at speed. The development site is scattered with 15 cranes, and the former bustle of Paradise Street has been replaced by a wide, open pathway populated by JCBs.
The core of what will be an Odeon cinema is taking shape. And the structures of John Lewis and Debenhams are in place.
It is certainly a complex project. Rather than slapping a big-box shopping mall on the site, Grosvenor is working with the existing streetscape.
In total, there are 30 new buildings at Liverpool One designed by 20 architects. “The idea from day one has been to create not a shopping mall but a series of buildings with their own character and architecture,” says Rod Holmes, project director at Grosvenor.
While some of the buildings have been completed, details of the majority of the scheme’s retail and leisure elements, and how they fit together, has sometimes been difficult to fathom.
Traditional shopping
Holmes says people in Liverpool have never really had a problem getting to grips with the design and layout, but others have.
“People locally realise that we are rebuilding a chunk of the city centre and that it fits in with the street pattern. It only becomes difficult when we start talking to people in the property industry who are used to dealing with traditional shopping centres,” he says.
The open-air nature of the scheme has had an upside, however. “Certain retailers welcome the fact that this is not ‘another shopping centre’. Some retailers who never take space in traditional shopping centres are interested, because it’s more like a high street,” says Holmes.
In fact, the scheme has five key retail elements (see map, p215) and is broken up into zones, which cater for different tastes and wallets.
John Lewis and Debenhams anchor the two western points of a triangle, which tapers towards the existing Marks & Spencer and the junction of Hanover Street with Church Street. South John Street and Paradise Street form linear retail pitches north to south, while Hanover Street, with more stores, forms the eastern barrier of the project. All this means the retail floorspace of central Liverpool will more than double.
“The different zones are based around real streets in Liverpool and so we have appropriate rents to reflect that,” explains Neil Barber, head of leasing at Grosvenor.
“For example, Hanover Street will be pitched at perhaps a third of the level of South John Street. We realise that different retailers can afford to pay different levels of rent, and we aren’t going to put in a couple of hundred shops at £300 per sq ft zone A. We want a different mix we don’t want a clone town.”
John Lewis, which has had a presence in Liverpool since 1940 and operates from a cramped outlet on Church Street, will be central to Liverpool One’s offer. Ann Humphries, director of retail development, says she is enthusiastic by the trading potential of the new store. “This store will be part of the biggest change to the centre of a city that we have been involved with,” she says.
“We’ve stayed committed to Liverpool. It’s fantastic that we are now getting a new critical mass of retailers as a magnet to bring people back into the city.”
So far, around 60% of the retail element of the scheme is let, with several high street names already confirmed and others rumoured (see box, p215). The next announcement on retailers is programmed for November, and this is likely to include several restaurant names. Holmes anticipates a further flurry of lettings activity next spring, after retailers have evaluated the Christmas 2006 trading figures.
Like the retail areas, the leisure offer will be broken down into zones. The park area will feature what Barber calls “fine dining”, with some of the units appearing to slot into the side of the sloping open parkland, with views of the River Mersey.
More casual dining will also feature here. No deals have yet been signed, but Wagamama, Strada and Gourmet Burger Kitchen are tipped to take space. North West-based ventures are likely to be strongly supported, with Manchester-based Croma and Sam’s Chop House, both favourites among property types, believed to be contenders for units.
Family dining
“These lettings tend to be the stuff you do in the last 12 months so that you can get the right mix and the latest thing, but we are now really beginning to crack into it,” says Barber. “Our advantage is that there aren’t many places in the UK where you can overlook a large park in the centre of a city.”
Other catering offers at the scheme will be family dining, especially close to the cinema, although Barber stresses this will not be a “food court”. The remaining offer will be “dotted around”, with a mix of “coffee stops tailored to particular districts”.
The retail element of the scheme will be completed in the first half of 2008, with some other sections, including 300 flats, being completed at the start of 2009. Holmes says discussions with potential development partners for the flats have been aborted, and Grosvenor will now finance and develop this element on its own.
In less than two years, if all goes to plan, Grosvenor’s complex scheme will push Liverpool firmly into the UK’s top-10 retail destinations. But for now, the clutch of cranes, the diggers and the dust remain.
Liverpool One composition
Paradise Street
Described as a “slick European boulevard”, the 82ft-wide street will be uncovered and have a similar volume and size to Church Street. It will feature a mix of trendy, urban fashion retailers. John Lewis anchors the street at the southern end.
Typical target retailers: Urban Outfitters, USC
Architects: BDP (London), Allies & Morrison, John McAslan, Glenn Howells, Haworth Tompkins
South John Street
The street linking Debenhams and John Lewis will be partly covered by a glass canopy and feature family-oriented multiples. The top level of the street will back on to the open park on the western side.
Typical target retailers: Borders
Architects: Groupe Six, BDP (Liverpool)
Peters Lane
Arguably the most architecturally surprising element of the scheme, Peters Lane will punch through from Church Street via a new entrance created by opening up the existing HMV store. The scheme’s only fully covered section, it will offer aspirational branded fashion and upmarket names.
Typical target retailers: Jigsaw, Space NK
Architects: Dixon Jones, Grieg & Stephenson, Stephenson Bell
Hanover Street
This zone at the eastern edge of the development features a number of larger shops aimed at homeware brands, partly to capitalise on the boom in residential development at nearby Ropewalks. Rents will be lower than those in the prime South John Street pitch. Hanover Street also houses the new BBC studios and landmark “Bling” building.
Typical target retailers: Habitat, Heal’s
Architects: CZWF, Page & Park, Brock Carmichael, Austin:Smith Lord, Owen Ellis
The Park
The hub of the development’s restaurant and catering offer, the 5-acre park will feature a series of terraces overlooking the River Mersey, with 2,000 car-parking spaces concealed beneath. The southern edge is flanked by the Cesar Pelli-designed flats and hotel blocks.
Typical target occupiers: Gourmet Burger Company, Strada, Wagamama
Architects: Cesar Pelli, BDP (Liverpool)
Tags: architecture, liverpool, regeneration, retail
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