Wates picked for Liverpool Cruise Terminal hotel

Liverpool City Council has chosen contractor Wates to work up plans for a 200-bed hotel on a plot directly opposite the city’s new Cruise Terminal with a full planning application for the project expected in the coming months.

The council has procured Wates through Scape’s Major Works Framework, which covers projects between £10m and £50m, and the contractor has been working on designs for the hotel, working the scheme up to RIBA stage one.

Further work and council funding is needed to bring forward a full planning application for the project, and funds are expected to be signed off later this week.

The hotel will be funded, developed, and managed by the council, and a search has now started for an operator to run the hotel on a 25-year franchise agreement.

Also around the cruise liner terminal, the council is advancing plans for a multi-storey car park with space for up to 1,800 vehicles.

Liverpool City Council has appointed Willmott Dixon for a pricing and feasibility study and like the hotel, the council is expected to sign off additional funding to bring the project forward to the planning phase in the coming months.

This funding, along with additional funding required for the Cruise Terminal itself, is expected to add up to just under £6.9m. This will cover additional design works for the terminal, which have been brought forward at the council’s request; procurement of the hotel franchise and operator; and the appointment of Willmott Dixon to the multi-story car park.

Main contractor McLaughlin & Harvey has already started work on the main terminal. Place North West revealed the contractors’ appointment in March this year, after it beat rival bidders Bam, Graham, Sisk, and Volker.

Site investigations began last month on the three-year project, supported by Aecom with a design team of structural engineer Ramboll, architect Stride Treglown, cost manager Gardiner & Theobald, planner JLL, and landscape architect Hyland Edgar Driver.

The terminal is part of the city’s plans to capitalise on increased cruise traffic after the current terminal welcomed more than 120,000 passengers and crew in 2016.