Proposal to convert student houses back to private ownership

Plans to return 23 Georgian terraced houses in Liverpool to private occupation have been submitted by Hollinwood Homes to Liverpool City Council.

The homes, which are spread across Falkner and Catharine Streets, have in recent years been used as student accommodation, and now Hollinwood Homes, part of the Marcus Worthington Group, wants to turn them back into privately owned dwellings.

The 23 properties will keep their external appearance, with the majority of the work being done internally to transform them into townhouses, all with private gardens.

The scheme is part of a wider £50m development by Marcus Worthington Group and the University of Liverpool in the surrounding area that includes building new student accommodation for 354 students in the Philharmonic Court complex, off Catharine Street.

There will be another phase at Great Newton Street which will see the transformation of a former car park and disused university property into a further 267 student bedrooms in a new building of four connected blocks.

Both the Philharmonic Court and Great Newton Street schemes are being dealt with under separate planning applications.

Mark Chadwick, residential development director of Hollinwood Homes, said: said: "We've completed extensive research into the types of properties that would meet the local housing needs in this area and have discovered that the best use would be to restore them back into townhouses.

"This area is hugely popular and by bringing these homes back into use, we are not only helping to regenerate part of Liverpool, we are providing some much-needed, high quality homes that are modern and desirable on the inside, but retain their distinctive characteristics on the outside."

Reinstatement of the Georgian terraces is due to be completed in 2016. Philharmonic Court is scheduled to be completed in mid-2015; Great Newton Street in September 2014.