Nextdom scales back Liverpool apartment project
Discussions with city council planners have resulted in the developer significantly reducing the height of the £83m Pall Mall scheme and the number of apartments.
Nextdom Property has submitted revised proposals for its Liverpool development, seeking permission for 435 one- and two-bedroom flats across two blocks of 10 and seven storeys.
The proposals also include 12,400 sq ft of ground-floor commercial and retail space, with parking for 130 cars and a bike space for each apartment.
The revised application comes after Nextdom lodged plans last spring for a larger development comprising 550 apartments across two blocks of 17 and 10 storeys.
Liverpool City Council said the scheme was too tall and that there is “no need for a ‘district scale’ tall building in the location’, according to a planning statement prepared by Zerum.
As a result, Nextdom – working with architect Falconer Chester Hall – has reworked the scheme, reducing its overall scale.
The city council’s Tall Building Supplementary Planning Document, published last year, defines a district scale building as one that is “between three and five times the height of the broader surrounding context”.
The adjustments to the application following a design review with Liverpool City Council strike a balance between what the developer and the authority envisaged for the area, according to Philip Didlick, director of Nextdom.
“The city council understood the commercial imperatives and worked very hard with us to reach a position that suited its planning aspirations whilst meeting our own commercial needs,” Didlick said.
Nextdom’s consultant team believes the development will play a key part in the regeneration of the Pumpfields area of Liverpool.
Nikki Sills, divisional director at Zerum, said: “This will be a genuinely transformative scheme connecting Pumpfields into the wider business district, whilst extending regeneration north towards the Ten Streets strategic development zone.”
“The apartments will contribute towards the mix of residential accommodation within a sustainable city centre location, enabling people to live and work in close proximity.”
Commenting on the scheme’s design, Quentin Keohane, director at Falconer Chester Hall, said: “The design intention is to reintroduce built form to the street edge and provide a complementary development to surrounding land uses and buildings in this area of transition. The building has been designed to maximise opportunities for activity on the ground floor and within the street scene.”
Falconer Chester Hall is leading on design. Credit: via Merrion Strategy
