Developer team planning mixed-use tower cluster in Liverpool

The developer behind Manchester’s Beetham Tower and retailer TJ Morris are working up plans for a major mixed-use tower cluster in Liverpool after buying a stalled site from Peel Waters.

Beetham Organisation founder Hugh Frost said the partnership is planning a “transformational project” on the King Edward Triangle site, part of Liverpool Waters, a key central location on the waterfront between the city’s Three Graces buildings and its business district.

The site already has outline approval for 1,200 homes, 315,000 sq ft of office space and a 53,000 sq ft hotel but Frost said the new development team wanted to “be more ambitious”.

It is understood that an architect has already been appointed and is working up a full planning application to expand the site in order to “demonstrate what a well-planned tall building zone can really deliver”, Frost said. 

Previous site owner Peel Waters paid Liverpool council a one-off £1.5m payment last month to remove a restrictive covenant to allow the developer to sell it to Beetham and TJ Morris.

The land is currently occupied by around 18 low rise light industrial units, including workshops, retail warehouses, leisure and hospitality uses and a car showroom.

Frost, a Liverpool native, said: “We can expect a stunning mixed use development worthy of this great city.  

“It’s a privilege and pleasure to be involved again on home soil, in what is going to be a transformational project for Liverpool city centre.  

“Our development will bring jobs and prosperity through a variety of uses.”

He added: “We are aware of the concerns that existing tenants have and there is genuine empathy for the traders on the estate. Every effort will be made to help them with relocation at the appropriate time.”

Frost’s existing projects in Liverpool include the 29-storey Beetham tower, which shares the same name as its Manchester counterpart, both designed by Simpson Haugh and built by Carillion, and the 40-storey West tower, designed by Aedas and also built by Carillion.

Beetham was also behind the original plans for the 50-storey One Blackfriars in central London before the site was purchased and developed by Berkeley in 2011. Also designed by Simpson Haugh, the scheme was built by Multiplex.