Mellior prepares to restart Liverpool’s stalled Fabric Village
Since acquiring the site last year, the developer has taken the Gildart Street scheme through a redesign, reducing the number of flats proposed by 12% from 419 to 367.
Mellior Construction has lodged revised plans with Liverpool City Council, which include increasing the size of the apartments within the three proposed blocks and introducing a second staircase to bring the Fabric Village scheme in line with emerging building safety regulation.
As well as the overall number of flats, the amount of ground floor retail space has also been reduced from around 11,000 sq ft to 2,600 sq ft.
Previously being developed by YPG, the two-phase Fabric Village has been stalled since 2021 after two vehicles attached to the Gildart Street project – YPG Investar Islington House and YPG Fabric Residence – collapsed into administration.
Mellior picked up the site last year, along with another stalled North West scheme – a 119-apartment project in Salford previously being brought forward by Prime Noble. Construction has begun on this scheme.
With a Section 106 agreed, it is hoped that the tweaks to the Fabric Village project will pave the way for a start on site. The application for the amendments to the project states the changes have been made to “unlock deliverability issues…better align with the objectives of the development plan, respond to market changes, and generally improve the consented scheme”.
Paddock Johnson is the architect attached to the scheme and Pegasus is advising on planning matters.
Darren Muir, director ar Pegasus, said: “The key to unlocking this stalled scheme was pro-active engagement with the council from senior management to officer level.
“Through pre-application discussions, the project team was able to successfully confirm that the previous consent remained extant, and that the changes required to move forward could be dealt with through a non-material amendment. There are too many stalled schemes across the city, but with some pragmatism and collaboration, this number will start reducing.”
To learn more about the project, search for reference number 24NM/2890 on Liverpool City Council’s planning portal.
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