PLANNING | Cavern Walks hotel heads to committee
Signature Living’s conversion of Cavern Walks into a hotel, alternative plans for Victoria House, and a 10-storey block on Oriel Street will go before Liverpool’s planning committee next week.
All the major schemes have been recommended for approval, subject to a legal agreement.
Cavern Walks
Developer: Signature Living
Hotel suites: 125
Beds: 553
Signature Living agreed a deal to purchase Cavern Walks last November and is now set for consent to convert the upper floors into a hotel. The developer is planning to in-fill the central atrium of the shopping centre to provide around 7,500 sq ft of additional space.
Retail will be retained at ground floor level, with the lower-ground floor upwards being converted into hotel suites, which will have up to eight beds per room. A retail unit on Mathew Street, currently occupied by Cricket Clothing, will converted to be the hotel’s main entrance.
Victoria House
Developer: Oakstore
Additional apartments: 20
Architect: NC Architecture
The developer’s plans add to the existing consent for Victoria House, which features 78 apartments converted from office space. Oakstore bought the building for £2.35m from the administrators of Pinnacle Residential Liverpool, which collapsed owing £2.2m to its investors before the scheme was complete.
Oakstore’s plans are to add a roof extension featuring 20 co-living apartments, bringing the total number of homes at Victoria House past 100.
Recommending the scheme for approval, officers said: “The proposed conversion will regenerate a vacant building and contribute to the local economy by proving new residential accommodation and increasing footfall across the area. It will contribute towards a complimentary and sustainable mix of uses, in a highly accessible location.”
Oriel Street
Developer: Vauxhall Developments
Apartments: 134
Storeys: eight to 10
Architect: Constructive Thinking Studio
The proposals cover a plot sitting between Oriel Street and Paul Street, on the eastern side of Vauxhall Road. The plans are an update to an existing planning permission; the developer secured permission for 69 apartments in a part-six, part-seven storey block in January this year.
The latest proposals feature 134 apartments over a larger C-shaped block, split between eight, nine, and 10 storeys; the taller element will be located fronting Vauxhall Road. The development is proposed as part of a phased scheme which will see neighbouring sites built out for apartments.
According to Companies House, Vauxhall Developments is headed up by three directors: Thomas Cassidy, Denis Murphy, and Patrick Young.
Signature are taking over Liverpool
By Dan
Signature are not taking over Liverpool pipe down .
By Claire
Signature are having to sell off assets to pay back investors and are getting kicked off developments in Liverpool. I’d call it a scramble to survive rather than a take over.
By NWP
I miss those optimistic days of 2008 when the city looked like it was in the up the council wasn’t just an enabler of half arse dodgy scheme that are benefiting no one…..can anyone name anything half decent that’s landed on the planners desk since Joe elected himself to office of Mayor of some of Liverpool?
By Volly Ball
Not a very good ball, ‘Volly’. Liverpool’s looking very good and its booming tourism trade proves it!
By Roscoe
@Volly Ball – The Spine? Infinity? Cruise Terminal?
By Slap
“Up to eight beds per room” drunken stag and hen do’s blighting the area.
By Barny
Would be great to see Cavern Walks get a new lease of life before it goes the way of Clayton Square as another 1980’s mistake.
By Mark Gilbertson
Hotel ‘suites’ with the 8 beds. Ha.
By Huey
Liverpool is the top stag and hen destination.
By Wayne
@Huey Scoff away, my friend, but that very innovation has been one of the cornerstones of Signature’s remarkable occupancy levels. Groups of women, in particular, love sharing large suites with multiple mirrors, hair dryers etc etc, drinking bubbles and cocktails as they get ready for a big night out on the town. Look at the company’s trip advisor reviews – folks love it.
Whatever we may think of the company’s capital funding model – and let’s be honest, plenty of us have our reservations – its operating model is a runaway success.
By Sceptical