Post by 100m plan for tobacco buildin on Dec 8, 2003 10:51:05 GMT -5
THE owners of the tobacco warehouse have revealed a £100m masterplan for its future.
The apartments and shops scheme will create more than 1,000 jobs by 2008.
For more than 20 years, the world's largest bonded building stood neglected.
Last year owners Kitgrove Ltd even threatened to apply for permission to demolish it.
The move sparked outrage from heritage groups and the city council who said Liverpool could lose a landmark in the heart of the site for which it wants to secure World Heritage status.
But today the company revealed a plan to breath life back into Stanley Dock which will create at least 1,000 building and permanent retail jobs.
The tobacco warehouse, built in 1900, will be converted into 700 loft-style apartments with three floors of shops, restaurants, bars and nightclubs and 950 underground car parking spaces.
The Stanley Dock Heritage Market will continue at the ground floor of the building and Kitgrove has plans to grow it into a northern version of London's successful Camden Market, with 700 extra stalls.
The plans are being submitted to council planning chiefs in January. If permission is granted, work will begin in 2004.
The 12.5 acre grade II listed building will be cored out from the 4th floor upwards to let light into the centre of the structure.
The internal dock will be brought back into use and linked up to the future extension of the Leeds/ Liverpool canal which will link it to the Pier Head and the site of the Fourth Grace.
The plans include floating platforms extending into the dock to allow cafés to serve customers on terraces over the water itself.
The 1950s additions to the south warehouse and what is known as the Rum Warehouse will be demolished to make way for a public park with a huge sculpture to reflect the dock's maritime history.
Hugh Stallard, of Spring 4 property management, is leading the team of 50 who have spent the past year drawing up the plans for Kitgrove.
He said: "We plan to make Stanley Dock the place to be seen with a buzzing nightlife, plenty of tourist visitors and a whole community of hundreds of people living there.
"We are inviting interest from hotels, cinemas, sports clubs, as well as café and restaurant chains.
"The proposals for the regeneration of Stanley Dock have been discussed with city of Liverpool planning teams, Northwest Development Agency and English Heritage and have been warmly received.
"This is a very exciting project which will provide an alternative centre of interest to the city centre.
"We believe the first phase will be completed well before 2008 when Liverpool becomes the European Capital of Culture.
He said: "Kitgrove, purchased Stanley Dock from receivers in early 1998 because it was seen as an interesting long-term proposition for regeneration with the certainty that profit could be made back from demolition and supplying the north west with bricks for the next decade.
"But we have decided now is the time to go for it and give this fantastic building a future.
"We saw Liverpool as being an important city in the north west undergoing significant change and regeneration and this has now been reinforced by the Capital of Culture win."
Thinking Space Limited has been appointed as the architect, WSP Group Plc as the mechanical and services engineers, Alan Baxter and Associates as heritage consultants, structural engineers and highways planners, Burnley Wilson Fish as quantity surveyors and David Smith Planning as planning consultants.
Mr Stallard added: "We will submit a planning application for the first phase of the regeneration, together with an overall planning brief for the site in early January 2004, with a view to planning consent for the first phase being obtained in April 2004.
"We are very confident that this is a realistic and achievable plan.
"The design consultants have all had substantial experience of dealing with large regeneration projects. "
Thinking Space have carried out projects on warehouse conversions all over Britain and Alan Baxter & Associates have been involved in huge Dock complexes in Plymouth, which are currently being refurbished by Urban Splash."
The first phase will be the regeneration of the northern part of Stanley Dock - the north ware-house, the dock areas and the north face of the tobacco warehouse.
This part of the scheme will provide 85 apartments with commercial accommodation at basement and ground floor level.
The second and third phases will deal with the regeneration of the tobacco warehouse and the south warehouse.
In August, Kitgrove took over direct control of the operation of the Heritage Market from Wendy Fair Markets.
They have now appointed Geraud Markets Liverpool Limited, which is a joint company with Liverpool city council who operate all council owned markets to manage the market.
But Frank Tough, the man who masterminded the Stables Market in Camden Lock, has been appointed to oversee the growth of the market and Kitgrove say its future is guaranteed.
