MIPIM UK | Eyes on Knowledge Quarter as fresh masterplan expected

Place North West partner

A new “coherent” spatial framework for Liverpool’s emerging Knowledge Quarter, incorporating the £1bn Paddington Village, and the gateway between Mount Pleasant, Copperas Hill and Lime Street station, is due to be unveiled tomorrow.

Tying together the wider neighbourhood, Liverpool City Council approved the creation of a masterplan earlier this year, to “reconnect areas fragmented by singular ownerships, and provide greater connectivity and mobility around Lime Street.”

Earlier this month the council secured “provisional” CPO powers to bring all the necessary plots for the Gateway project under one ownership. Buildings such as Britannia’s Adelphi Hotel, the Mount Pleasant car park, and plots alongside Lime Street station are included in the masterplan outline. The Gateway has been given an estimated £800m development value.

A regeneration framework for Paddington Village was approved at the start of this year, and has provided a platform from which to secure piecemeal planning permissions for life sciences and education uses on the site, including Kaplan’s Liverpool International College and Proton Partners’ cancer treatment centre, as well as proposals for the Royal College of Physicians’ Northern HQ.

K2 Architects, How Planning and Mott MacDonald are advising KQ on the plans, and details of the vision for the area are expected to be announced at MIPIM UK on Thursday.

Speaking ahead of the launch, Knowledge Quarter chief executive Colin Sinclair said: “The spatial framework is a masterplan for the Knowledge Quarter that aims to blur the lines between its distinct communities and districts to create a cohesive sense of place and identity that will help to carry us forward.

“Naturally, a cornerstone of that vision is the need to create a gateway that reflects a world-class innovation district.

“We’ll also be announcing some new thinking on transport for the area which could have wider implications and potential benefits to commuters and businesses and can help better connect us to the rest of the UK and beyond.”

Opening up the disused Wapping Tunnel train line has been on the cards for the Knowledge Quarter for some time, with a new station mooted near to Abercrombie Square.

Speaking previously to Place North West about the Knowledge Quarter Gateway, Sinclair described it as targeting “new shops, offices, galleries, bars, restaurants, gyms and university space, on a scale equivalent to London’s Kings Cross”.

• MIPIM UK coverage is brought to you in association with Willmott Dixon. Place North West can be found on stand H34.