Grosvenor celebrates final topping out of Liverpool One
Grosvenor will reach another milestone in the delivery of its £1bn Liverpool One project this week when the final one out of 40 new buildings tops out.
Hilton Liverpool will reach its highest point, and Grosvenor and contractor Kier Build will mark the occasion with a ceremony on Thursday.
Grosvenor sold the 216-room hotel, on the southern edge of Chavasse Park, in September 2007 to Andreas Panayiotou's Ability Group for £60m.
The hotel includes 47 apartments and will be among the final pieces of Liverpool One to open when it does so in early 2009. It will be Hilton's first hotel in Liverpool.
The 1m sq ft first phase of the 42-acre Liverpool One opened to great acclaim at the end of May. The remaining 600,000 sq ft, together with restaurants and the five-acre park, will open in late September.
As well as new retailers, the quality of design and materials has been among the main reasons given by local people and property professionals alike for declaring the ambitious scheme a success, with 26 architects and more than 40 new buildings in the scheme. However, it has run £140m over budget.
On Thursday, a time capsule will be embedded into the Hilton building containing such objects as a Capital of Culture '08 programme, Hilton memorabilia and a corkscrew.
