IMAGES | Littlewoods fire ‘could have been worse’

Fresh images of the Littlewoods Building in Liverpool have been released by developer Capital & Centric showing the extent of the damage to the roof.

Flames engulfed half of the building on Sunday 2 September, leaving fears that the site’s future as a £50m film studio would be in doubt. However the following week, Adam Higgins, co-founder of Capital & Centric, confirmed that Littlewood’s anchor tenant, Twickenham Studios, remained “absolutely wedded to making the scheme a success, and is committed to working with us.”

The fire was contained in the West Wing of the building, with the majority of the damage focused on the northern side, furthest away from Edge Lane. A 1960s concrete extension acted as a fire-stop and prevented the flames spreading. In the days after the incident, Merseyside Police confirmed the fire had been been started intentionally and launched an arson investigation.

Newly-released aerial images, taken by engineers assessing the building using a drone, show damage caused to the roof and internally.

Higgins said: “The fire was intense, but the damage wasn’t as bad as we expected. We’re indebted to the fire service, who managed to contain the fire to a relatively small part of the building. We’re yet to get a detailed survey of the structure, however the initial findings are positive.

“Damage seems to have been contained to the roof and floor of a specific part of the building, which will need replacing and rebuilding, but it could have been a lot worse. We’ll know more over the coming weeks when we’ve got safe access.

“Twickenham Studios have been incredibly supportive and are committed to making Littlewoods, and Liverpool, their second home. The part of the building they’ll take is totally unaffected so shouldn’t delay our plans to create the interior studio space that international directors are crying out for.”