Liverpool takes steps to unlock Grove Street regen
The city council is to grant Regenda Group and its subsidiary Redwing 999-year leases on the site to make it easier for the group to secure funding for the project.
Regenda has secured planning approval to demolish the existing 144 apartments that make up Liverpool’s Grove Street estate and build 305 new homes on the site.
In order to progress the scheme, Regenda needs to extend its lease, according to a report due to be discussed by Liverpool City Council’s cabinet next week.
“There is insufficient time left on Regenda’s current lease – 51 years – for it to secure relevant funding for the proposed development,” the report states.
As a result, the city council is proposing to grant the company a 999-year lease while terminating the existing deal.
A 999-year lease is also proposed for Redwing, Regenda’s non-charitable commercial delivery arm, so that market rent and sale properties can be delivered as well as affordable homes.
Regenda will pay a premium of £645,000 to Liverpool City Council.
A Regenda spokesperson said: “This is a key milestone in bringing new, high-quality homes to Grove Street, including 89 one- and two-bedroom apartments for social rent in phase one.”
Bound to the north by Myrtle Street and the south by Back Falkner Street, the development site amounts to 4.2 acres. The existing properties to be demolished are three-storey apartment blocks that Regenda Group manages.
Of the apartments Regenda Group plans to build on the Grove Street Estate, 150 would be available for social rent and 82 would be earmarked for Rent to Buy.
In addition, 28 would be marketed for private sale and 50 are to be privately rented out.
The apartments are to be delivered across six blocks ranging in height from three to eight storeys.
The scheme would deliver 231,000 sq ft of accommodation in total and generate £375,000 in council tax annually, a 183% increase on what is currently generated at Grove Street, according to the report.
Metropolitan Workshop is the masterplanner and lead architect for the project and Shedkm is also attached as an architect.
BCA Landscape is the landscape architect.
Can’t believe that this may be in doubt due to funding , it’s been so long in design and planning but now it’s secured I thought why the delay. This should be a model for future inner city neighbourhoods, and wipes the floor with the dross that was built along Park Lane in the early 1980s though that’s not the only example.
By Anonymous
Once again Regenda housing and Liverpool city council demonstrate their contempt for the existing social tenants on the Grove Str estate, both of whom refuse to even acknowledge the existence of the Real Residents of Grove Street resident group and ignoring their serious concerns on the proposed development thus denieing them a voice in the process and ignoring their concerns on aspects of the development like the height and density of the buildings, the safety and security of the residents, the increased pollution through opening up the estate, the loss of residents social community space, the destruction of the estates 100 ft. high mature trees and the wildlife they house which will have a negative impact on residents health and their local environment, plus the current residents widely held view that this development is just another example of social clenzing of a long established 3 generational social housing estate by incorporating the estate into the Liverpool University campus which will greatly increase revenues for Regenda Housing and Liverpook City Council, all to the cost of the current local residents and their families.
By Concerned Resident
@ Concerned Resident, oh come on ,you make the current Grove Street estate sound like it is without criticism, when the truth is it`s cheap looking, run down, and well beyond it`s sell-by date,it`s not a good use of inner-city land , and in no way achieves the density and bustle that existed prior to the 1950`s.
Your complaints once again look like the regular scripted negativity that anti-development groups utilise to oppose any scheme they don`t want in central Liverpool, including the mention of students who are always highlighted as a form of modern day folk devil to be marginalised at each opportunity.
By Anonymous
I would live in some of these blocks 🙂
By Balcony Warrior
Concerned Resident does not speak for the many young people and families who cannot find affordable homes in this city. They currently have no share in this bizarre sense of entitlement!
By LEighteen
Great to see it developed but it looks horrible. They should have tried to emulate the surrounding Georgian architecture.
By Heritage Action
The current infill buildings are awful and don’t work well with the Georgian architecture. This development will create more homes and help regenerate the wider area, hopefully further up Parliament Street, which has plenty of wasteland which could be homes and businesses once again.
By GetItBuilt!
Good to see this development, but don’t understand why they can use their existing funding sources to develop this not massive site . And why not affordable homes they could still cross subsidise the costs given the long term returns they will get from the site .
By George
This development looks pretty good to my eye. Certainly could have a had a nod to the local Georgian architecture. Too much red brick stuff going up in Liverpool – which is fine near the docks but not so much reflective of the character elsewhere. Overall, there seems to be a real uptick in Liverpool schemes recently. Let’s hope nice renders ultimately translate into quality developments.
By Chris
Looks fantastic, we need to densify the inner city. Get it built
By Anonymous
Just get on with it. But make sure it blends in.
By Anon
Are their any bungalow’s planned? Or office’s? Liverpool needs both of these X x
By Mary Woolley
Too tall. Try again please.
By Anonymous
This is close to the city centre. Bungalows are entirely inappropriate in this area. Bungalows are inefficient, taking a lot of land, and are also not very environmentally friendly for this reason. If anything, some of the buildings could be taller, e.g., those on the corner plots.
By Chris
I’d rather bungalows than those laughable towers over in Manchester
By Gilly
So Mary, you think this location needs bungalows? Can you imagine, say, Hamburg Barcelona, Antwerp, etc with bungalows in it’s city centre on prime land? You need to understand what makes cities architecturally great and it ain’t bungalows.
By Anonymous