Baltic Triangle warehouse set for £2.6m refurbishment
Baltic Creative Community Interest Company has acquired the 19th-century Norfolk Street warehouse from Liverpool City Council, with plans in place to fully restore the building to house 17,000 sq ft of office space.
The community interest company has acquired a 125-year long lease hold on the warehouse on Norfolk Street and and adjoining two-storey building on Simpson Street with Liverpool City Council.
Baltic Creative has secured £2.6m of funding through the Charity Bank and the European Regional Development Fund to finance the purchase and restoration of the building.
The company now plans to restore the derelict warehouse over a 10-month period to provide 17,000 sq ft of workspace, as well as a public café on the ground floor.
K2 Architects has been appointed to design the scheme, while a building contractor will be named next month.
It is estimated the building will support around 30 companies and 150 full-time jobs once the restoration completes in September 2018.
Mark Lawler, managing director of Baltic Creative CIC said, “This process has been a long time in the making and it has been the most challenging acquisition that I have worked on in my career to date.
“Liverpool’s tech sector is booming, with figures showing that digital jobs in the north are growing at 10 times the rate of non-digital jobs.
“Here at Baltic Creative we are witnessing a huge demand for dedicated tech space and we’re committed to transforming 61-65 Norfolk Street into a scheme which will support the growth of digital businesses.”
Kevin Horton, architects director at K2 Architects added: “What ourselves and Baltic Creative have planned for 61-65 Norfolk Street is entirely original and will become nothing less than a world leading space for creative and digital businesses.
“It’s important to note that, whilst part of the building is structurally unsound with sections in considerable disrepair, it does have notable architectural and aesthetic merit.
“Therefore we, along with Baltic Creative, are passionate about maintaining the historic fabric of the building and intend to preserve as much of the original construction as is structurally possible.”
