Liverpool approves office conversions and student flats

A pair of residential projects totalling 69 apartments and a student accommodation block containing 280 bedrooms have been granted planning consent by Liverpool City Council. 

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Azure apartments at Rose Place 

Applicant: Legacie Contracts  

Architect: Falconer Chester Hall  

Planner: Zerum  

Legacie Developments’ Azure scheme will see the construction of an eight-storey student accommodation block on land off Rose Place and St Anne Street to the north east of the city centre.

The developer gained consent in May 2018 for an eight-storey private residential block, which would have contained 180 bedrooms in 127 apartments and commercial uses at ground floor.

The project also features a games room, cinema, gym and yoga room, communal lounge and the first floor courtyard.

However, according to the developer, plans were changed in response “to the buoyant student residential sector in Liverpool.”

The development is made up of 84 studio flats and 26 cluster apartments, comprising a total of 280 bedrooms. There will be 14 retail and commercial units at ground floor level.

The site is currently occupied by an industrial unit with an asbestos roof which will be demolished under the plans.

Stephen Fieldsend, associate director at Falconer Chester Hall, said: “There was clearly a case for a larger and taller building to reflect the general trend towards increased massing in the area. Rose Place is excellently positioned for the north of the city and close to the convergence of the business and knowledge quarters which are permeating in helping to shape the cultural personality of the area.

The project team includes Progressive Services Design as M&E consultant, Layer as landscape architect, Penny Anderson
Associates advising on ecology and Prime Transport as transport consultant.

14-20 Stanley Street 

Applicant: Orchard Secured Capital 

Planner: Planning Conditions  

Architect: Davenport Architecture  

The landlord has been granted approval to convert part of the grade two-listed Granite Buildings on Stanley Street into 49 serviced studio apartments. 

The Granite Buildings are located within the Castle Street Conservation area.  

Split into two distinctive parts, the site includes numbers 14-16, which currently house office space on the upper floors, a lower ground floor tattoo studio and a basement gymnasium, and 18-20, made up of bars and restaurants at the lower levels and existing residential accommodation on the upper four floors. 

Under the plans the office space will be converted into apartments while the existing 13 apartments will be redeveloped. 

The ground floor retail and leisure units will be unaffected by the plans according to the design and access statement drawn up by the Davenport Architecture. 

Guardian Assurance Building  

Applicant: Braithwaite Group

Planner: Greyside Planning 

Architect: NS Architects  

The former Guardian Assurance Building is to be converted into 20 apartments following approval from the council. 

The 22,600 sq ft building is situated at the corner of Dale Street and Moorfields and has been vacant since 2015 having been vacated by a solicitor’s firm. 

Comprising 4,000 sq ft, the ground floor and basement will be used for retail with the upper floors of the six-storey building given over to 15 two-bedroom apartments and five one-bedroom apartments.