Hunt begins for Liverpool’s Festival Gardens developer
Liverpool City Council has officially fired the starting gun in search of a development partner for the 28-acre site, one of the most high-profile in the city.
The selection is being undertaken using a competitive dialogue public procurement process.
The recently remediated site has the potential to host at least 1,500 homes.
Cllr Liam Robinson, Leader of Liverpool City Council, said: “We are now at the critical stage of searching for and appointing a developer.
“We need a development partner who is on the same page to deliver the next chapter for this iconic location.”
Design principles laid out by the city council’s project brief – drawn up by Metropolitan Workshop, Shedkm, Mace and Montagu Evans – express a desire to “unlock the full potential of the site to deliver much-needed market and affordable homes”.
It sets out four key themes:
- Exemplar design
- Physical and visual connections to the river
- Varied and diverse landscape
- A focus on ease of movement
LCC has also set the expectation of the delivery of more than 20% affordable housing across the scheme.
Both DWF and Montagu Evans will be supporting Liverpool City Council throughout the procurement process
Those interested have until 4 November to submit an initial selection questionnaire to be evaluated.
A contract will be awarded by a cabinet decision in October 2025.
The procurement process will continue as follows:
- 4 November 2024: Return of Selection Questionnaires
- 18 November 2024 – January 2025: commencement of Stage One – Outline Solutions Stage (up to five bidders)
- March – June 2025: Stage Two – Detailed Solutions Stage (up to three bidders)
- June 2025: Return of final tender
- June – October 2025: Evolution and Selection Stage
This is the second time Liverpool City Council has gone out to market for a development partner.
Ion Developments had signed an exclusivity agreement to build 1,500 homes on a 22-acre chunk of the site but the city council decided in 2022 to launch a fresh hunt for a development partner after the agreement expired.
20% affordability will prove to be the big problem here, as if you want a high quality ,innovative, development then you shouldn’t be looking to level down.
I’m not saying things won’t be built but it’s not going to be as impressive as envisaged as one might’ve hoped given £60m has been spent on site preparation.
By Anonymous
We want bungalows for the elderly who have served the community their entire lives please
By Anonymous
@anonymous – level down? Can we not have high-quality, innovative affordable housing, or do we only try and to do that for the more privileged?
By A Developer
What a great opportunity if the right partners are chosen. This and Central Docks are probably the two most amazing sites ripe for development on the waterfront.
By Anonymous
20% affordable housing is crazy and shows they are not serious about making the most of this site.
By Liverpool Observer
@7.51pm, we have acres of land in the city for “affordable housing”, look along Scotland Rd, Everton Rd, Park Rd,Prescot Rd, bombsites everywhere, surely Liverpool is allowed some enclaves of wealth and style.
By Anonymous
Yes, 20% affordability is ridiculous. Only those who can afford an expensive house should live somewhere nice. Everybody else should buy an old terraced house in the north end, where they belong. And once again, all the council needed to do was consult the experts on the place Northwest comments section and they could have saved so much time, rather than wasting it on remediation, architects’ masterplans etc. Will these people never learn.
By Anonymous
LFC are going to need to move eventually, even if they don’t know it yet. This is the only site left in the city that would do them justice and is therefore a mistake to develop now with housing.
By Sees The Future
@ 1.22am, LFC on the Festival Gardens site, don’t think so, the best and obvious site is the adjacent car park site in Stanley Park, then Anfield could be part used for housing, plus a multi storey carpark, and a terminus for a proper tram network which routes to Anfield.
By Anonymous
Affordable housing is subsidised by the developer. It is only viable when there is sufficient value created by the development. In this case there is no surplus to spend on housing subsidies because the council has already spent £50M+ on remediation costs. At this point the primary objective should be to recover costs by maximizing the value of the site. Anything else would be a gross misuse of public funds.
Listening to the experts on Place North West would be a good start. So far it doesn’t look like LCC has listened to any experts. In fact they binned their last development partner as soon as they got close to dealing with commercial realities.
By Observer
@8:57am A tram network is for the birds with bendy bus Steve in charge, but even if it wasn’t it’d only deliver a fraction of the capacity Mereseyrail could using St Michaels. LFC need to be looking at what Ratcliffe is proposing for Man Utd stadium redevelopment and thinking likewise for here. A proper sized arena for the city could easily also go on this site, along with a women’s ground and associated leisure, retail, business and residential. The Anfield area by contrast is a constricted dump.
By Sees The Future
Castiron Shore = Otterspool Tip..?
Buying a multi _thousand pounds house….?
No way,
By Anonymous