Anwyl close to sale on Liverpool student resi plot

Mount Property Group is expected to bring forward Anwyl Construction’s £35m student accommodation scheme on Norton Street after being lined up to buy the site, Place North West understands.

Anwyl Construction was granted planning permission in October 2016 for the 566-bed student block, which has been rebranded as Natex, to replace the former National Express coach station.

Designed by Falconer Chester Hall, the site was set to be the first major project for Wales-based developer Anwyl in the city. Anwyl also has planning permission for a 21-storey 342-home tower in Pall Mall in the city centre, but this project is yet to start on site.

Located near John Moores University, the Norton Street scheme will consist of two blocks, one 16 storeys and another 10 storeys, with the student bed spaces organised into 88 clusters and 94 studios. The buildings are connected at the ground floor by an interlinking glazed block. Facilities include a gym, dining area, games room, laundry room as well as office and reception areas.

The project is located in the buffer zone of Liverpool’s World Heritage Site and includes a grade two-listed ventilation shaft. Part of the site also lies above the disused Waterloo rail tunnels.

The development is being marketed overseas by Malaysian-based agent CSI Prop, which states in marketing material that construction work is due to start in August and will complete in the third quarter of 2020.

Anwyl’s site would be the latest in a string of acquisitions by Mount Property Group, which was formed in May 2015. In September the firm purchased a 525-home site on Regent Road in Salford that was formerly owned by Vivere, the development arm of New Chinatown contractor Bilt Group, which went into administration in 2016.

The latest group accounts up to December 2016 show the firm has registered fixed assets of £2.7m and liabilities of £1.8m.

Mount Group declined to comment. Anwyl Construction has been contacted for comment.