MIPIM 2008: Next stop Shanghai as Peel targets tower funders
Lindsey Ashworth, development director of Peel Holdings, is planning another trip to China in the summer to start meeting potential investors in the 60-storey Shanghai Tower in Liverpool.
Chatting to Place North West at the Peel and Media City UK Lunch at the Beach event for 100 guests held today in front of La Mandala hotel, Ashworth said current appraisals indicated the tower would cost £500m to build.
The Chinese joint venture funding partner would not take a straight half share in the ownership of the 1m sq ft, mixed-use tower planned for Princes Dock, with a 60:40 split towards Peel's control more likely.
Ashworth and Peel chairman John Whittaker joined a delegation from Liverpool to Shanghai last year and returned with the vision for the skyscraper to launch the £10bn Liverpool Waters scheme.
A broker has already been recruited in Shanghai to find funding and construction partners and a decision about the JV financier could be made by the end of this year.
Four architects are currently competing to design the tower; Broadway Malyan, Benoy, Chapman Taylor and AFL.