Approval for Royal Albert Dock offices revamp
Liverpool City Council has given General Projects and Neo Capital permission to begin upgrading parts of the 375,000 sq ft asset, which the JV acquired for around £40m earlier this year.
The proposals would see 20,000 sq ft of workspace at Royal Albert Dock given a new lease of life.
Speaking in September when the plans were submitted, Jacob Loftus, chief executive of General Projects, said the project would see vacant mezzanine space transformed into “fully-fitted SME workspace units which will support a cluster of independent, creative businesses onto the campus”.
Planner CBRE and designer Studio MUTT are working on the project to refurbish mezzanine workspaces within the Britannia Pavilion and Colonnades.
“We have cherished the opportunity to work on the refurbishment of the workspaces within the Albert Dock,” said Alexander Turner, director at Studio MUTT.
“The design celebrates the unique character of the listed warehouse structures and gives prominence/focus to the existing heritage elements such as the brick vaults supported on heroic cast iron columns. New materials have been carefully selected to complement the palette in colour and texture such as the rust red floor and timber furniture that references the crates that would have been stacked in the space back when it was used as a goods store in the 1800s.”
He added: “The 1980s addition of offices into the Albert Dock created large self contained units. We wanted to create a space that encouraged the formation of a workspace community rather than simply a number of individual offices. By reconfiguring the 80s plan, a new social room has been added at the heart of the plan and includes a shared kitchen, a large dining table and meeting booths.”
The project team also includes project manager Modero, heritage consultant Placve & Context, and M&E firm Walmsley Associates.
Royal Albert Dock comprises four grade one-listed buildings: the Britannia, Edward and Atlantic Pavilions, and The Colonnades.
At the time of its sale, it was home to 56 tenants, paying a combined £3.6m in rent – around a third of this coming from its two hotels.
The spaces to be refurbished are the existing workspace units 31, 32a, 32b, 33a-c, 34, 35, 37, and 38 at the Colonnades and Units 1a, 25 and 26b at the Britannia Pavilion.
The 31-34 units at the Colonnades are the main area where things will change: the plan is to create “more desirable sized units” by breaking up some existing suites into smaller workspaces, accessed from a new social space that will include a shared tea point, meeting pods and informal meeting table.
All bathrooms and other common areas will be updated.
Worthington Owen has been appointed to let the space.
To learn more about the project, search for reference number 23L/2252 on Liverpool City Council’s planning portal.
