Regeneration & Development in Liverpool City Centre 2005-2011 by New Ferry Regeneration Action Group

Regeneration & Development in Liverpool City Centre 2004-2011

Foreword Towards the end of 2004, Liverpool City Council published “Regeneration & Development in the City Centre 1995-2004”. At that time, the city was celebrating winning the coveted Capital of Culture status for 2008 and began to look forward to how it would greet the influx of international visitors which the accolade would bring. Also in 2004, Councillor Mike Storey MBE – then the Council Leader - famously dubbed Liverpool “the Capital of Cranes”. His comment came when the city was in the middle of a momentous journey that had started in the late 1990s when Neptune completed Queen Square, demonstrating that Liverpool was ready for the kind of comprehensive redevelopment which had bypassed it in the previous two decades. At the same time, niche developer Urban Splash showed the city how to retain its historic legacy and adapt it for the 21st century by creating its pioneering development of apartments over bars and restaurants around Concert Square in the Ropewalks area. The scene was set, and for Liverpool there would be no looking back as the City Centre began its incredible journey towards Capital of Culture year 2008 and beyond. Anyone who may have visited the City Centre even four years ago and now makes a return journey cannot fail to be stunned by the dramatic transformation which has taken place over the last four years alone. As the economy of the city has changed in recent times, so has the pace of change in the cityscape’s fabric, its height and scale, variety, and its more positive outlook to the future. In the years before 2008, Liverpool’s BigDig caused some disruption to the city whilst the £73million City

Centre Movement Strategy refurbished several city centre streets with higher quality materials. We now also see exciting new buildings and renovated historic ones sitting in a higher quality, cleaner and less cluttered urban environment. The city now plays host to a range of cultural events that bring its citizens flocking the city centre streets for open concerts, to the revitalised Pier Head to greet visiting cruise ships, to its refurbished cultural institutions in search of knowledge, and to ’shop until they drop’ in the city’s exciting new fashion stores lining the streets and arcades of Liverpool One.

Tall Ships parade off the Pier Head, summer 2008

The city benefits from the commitment and enthusiasm of its citizens and businesses, whilst developers, the Council and its partner agencies such as Liverpool Vision and Merseytravel drive the regeneration of Liverpool forward to return Liverpool to its former status as one of the UK’s top cities.

Commercial sector Liverpool City Centre has seen more new high quality office floorspace arrive in the last four years than throughout the past three decades. The plush new headquarter-style buildings at Princes Dock have been joined by further developments away from the waterfront such as City Square on Tithebarn Street, and the Beetham developments on Old Hall Street. Even existing buildings such as The Plaza at 100 Old Hall Street and City Exchange (between the Royal Sun Alliance and Daily Post & Echo Buildings) have seen huge sums invested in refurbishment work to attract new tenants and provide first class accommodation for businesses and their staff.

‘La Machine’, menacing the new Liverpool Arena, 2008

The Plaza and St Paul’s Square development, Old Hall Street

Hotels The city’s hotel industry is booming, and new hotels such as the £35million Malmaison at Princes Dock have arrived over the last three years to satisfy the demand for luxury accommodation. Meanwhile, existing hotels such as the Sir Thomas Hotel on Victoria Street, The Liner (former Gladstone Hotel on Lord Nelson Street), and the world-famous Adelphi Hotel have undergone considerable refurbishment and upgrading.

Malmaison Hotel at Princes Dock, with Beetham’s West Tower seen beyond.

Across the city, over 25 hotels have either been created or refurbished since 2000 at a cost of over £200 million to provide over 3,300 bedrooms, whilst occupancy levels have risen to an average 78%. To cater for growing demand from visitors flocking to the city to visit the new arena and convention centre, museums, theatres and other attractions, new hotels are still being proposed in 2010/11.

Retail Even before Grosvenor’s £1billion Liverpool One development opened in 2008, excited and eager retailers flocked to the MET Quarter when it opened its doors in early 2006. Meanwhile, fashion stores Zara, GAP, and Vivienne Westwood all moved into existing refurbished buildings to establish themselves ahead of the influx of businesses expected to arrive at Liverpool One.

The Cavern Quarter, based around Mathew Street, has been dramatically improved with high quality granite paving and a unique "Lucy in the Sky" style lighting scheme, creating a welcoming and attractive area for shoppers and visitors.

Also in anticipation of Liverpool One and its high quality environment, many streets within the existing retail core were repaved as part of the City Centre Movement Strategy. Williamson Square with its popular fountains was one of the flagship schemes; other streets with new pavings were Church Street and the side streets between it and Williamson Square, Lord Street, James Street, and Whitechapel.

With an investment value of £1billion and covering 42.5 acres, Grosvenor's Liverpool One project was one of the largest retail developments in Europe at the time it was being built. The scheme included 30 new buildings, more than 1.6 million square feet of retail space with two new department stores, two hotels and residential and leisure facilities. Over 3,000 people worked on its construction, and an estimated 4,400 permanent jobs are being created as retailers and businesses move into the new retail and office space created. Liverpool One contains six "quarters", each with a distinctive character. The overall development largely retains the existing streetscape. Historic buildings or those with architectural interest, views of landmark buildings and public open space were retained, with new views and walkways opened up. Within weeks of the first phase of shops opening in May 2008, Debenhams and John Lewis, the main anchor tenants, reported sales beyond their initial expectations, whilst traders across the city centre reported average 30% increase in footfall. By October 2008. business information group Experian reported that Liverpool had soared 10 places up the UK retail league table to fifth place, with shoppers projected to spend almost £2bn in the city by the end of the year. This came as a surprise to many, as the global credit crunch biting at that time had seen retail sales fall elsewhere in the UK.

Leisure and Tourism

City Centre Living

The Leisure and Tourism industry is a key income generator for Liverpool. Liverpool World Museum opened its new doors and expanded into an adjacent building in summer 2005 at a cost of £33 million, whilst a £22 million refurbished St George’s Hall re-opened its more wheelchair accessible street-level doors for visitors to admire its improved facilities and Small Concert Room in May 2007.

Back in 1999, City Centre Living was just beginning to take off. Less than 2,400 people lived within the city centre boundary in 1992, but by 2010 this figure has now shot up to an estimated 22,000. The renaissance of City Centre Living in Liverpool began around the marina in the southern docks, but spread to the heart of the centre itself led by pioneering developers Urban Splash.

During all this time, the Ropewalks area has emerged as the thumping heart of the city’s nightlife with a plethora of trendy bars and restaurants including Alma Da Cuba in the former St Peter’s Church.

Young professionals without children, and middleaged professionals whose children have flown the nest, became attracted to the offer of spacious apartments in converted former office buildings, warehouses and in new purpose built blocks and towers with stunning views of the river.

Universities The bars and clubs also became favourite meeting places for Liverpool’s ever-growing student population. Significant investment in the city’s four universities, particularly in facilities such as the University of Liverpool’s £23 million biosciences and business incubation centre has made Liverpool one of the top choices for UK and international students. Between 2000 and 2007, over 2,500 extra bed-spaces for student accommodation were provided in key City Centre locations such as at the £8 million Marybone Student Village; these were added to the 5,600 bed-spaces already created in the late 1990s. In an attempt to encourage students to stay in the city following graduation, a number of initiatives such as the £5.5 million Science Park in the shadow of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King to develop incubator units for new breakout businesses from the Universities was completed in 2006, with a second building, ic2 following it in early 2011.

As each year has passed, developers have gone to extraordinary lengths to attract buyers with increasingly higher quality fixtures, fittings and designer-inspired décor. Until the end of 2007 when national house-price rises began to slow, this resulted in ever-increasing values at the top end of the market, with Tower Buildings becoming the city’s first address to boast penthouse suites topping the £1 million mark in April 2005. There is no doubt that the recession of 2009/10 managed to dent the city centre’s residential market growth – much as it has done across the country as a whole. More importantly, what it has done is to stabilise prices and keep them just within reach for some first and second-time buyers. This therefore makes Liverpool an attractive city for firms to relocate to or establish themselves in, as key workers can still find relatively inexpensive, yet often quite luxurious and modern conveniently placed accommodation compared to other major cities. Meanwhile, as firsttime buyers have found mortgages almost impossible to obtain, the city’s rental market is now seeing significant growth.

St George’s Hall at the start of the 2008 Capital of Culture celebrations

Liverpool Science Park next to the Catholic Cathedral

Chandler’s Wharf, typical of the many new apartment schemes in the L1/Baltic Triangle area

Award-winning, high quality paving on Hope Street

City Centre Movement Strategy

Culture and Regeneration

Hand-in-hand with the rising city skyline have been sweeping changes to the streetscape fabric. With partners Merseytravel, the City Council has been investing in a £73 million City Centre Movement Strategy which has resulted in a dramatic rethink about pedestrian and vehicular circulation in and around the city centre.

Cities are not just about buildings; they are also about people – those who live here and those who come to visit. During Liverpool’s tenure as the Capital of Culture in 2008, people who came to the city found it buzzing with life and excitement as they came to visit our shops, cultural institutions, shopping facilities, nightlife and spectacular cultural events including the Mathew Street festival, Tall Ships, Capital of Culture opening and closing ceremonies and celebration concerts at the new arena, the Gustav Klimt exhibition at the Albert Dock’s Tate Gallery, the La Machine spider and the irresistibly cute parade of Superlambananas amongst the many highlights.

From extending pedestrian areas, increasing bus priority lanes and providing new bus shelters with upto-date timetable information, ensuring car parks are more conveniently placed, to ensuring safety and comfort on public transport, Liverpool is increasing the attractiveness of its city centre to encourage more visitors, businesses and residents to come and enjoy the experience of being here. The cheaply laid, crumbling brick pavers of the 1980s, and un-coordinated randomly placed street signage, are being replaced with high quality and more durable paving materials and street furniture chosen from a carefully selected design palette. Many schemes have won national awards including a Civic Trust Commendation in 2006, and LGN Highways Award in 2007 Key buildings have been illuminated at night as part of the ‘City of Light’ programme which was highly commended in the 2005 LGN Streetscape National Lighting Awards, and received an RTPI commendation in 2005.

Go Superlambananas was one of the Capital of Culture highlights, bringing visitors to the city in search of the 100+ cute, brightly coloured lamb sculptures which graced the city in 2008. Some of them remain as permanent features, others were auctioned for charity.

Merseyrail has also seen considerable expenditure on its underground network, with some £10.3million having been spent improving tracks and signalling on the underground loop line between 2006 and 2008, and a further £9million still to be invested in 2009/10. In 2011 a further £40 investment was announced, with £20million of this to go towards a complete refurbishment of the overcrowded Liverpool Central.

Figures show that:• Over 14 million visitors came to the city during 2008, 75% attracted by Capital of Culture events; • With each visitor spending an average £12 per visit, this resulted in some £176million being spent in the city; • Some 3.5 million (24%) of the visitors came to Liverpool for the first time; • 60% of the city’s residents have attended a local museum of gallery this year (UK average is 42%) • Peaking at 81.1% in the summer, hotel occupancy rates averaged 77%, higher than anywhere else in the UK during the year, with 1 million bed nights sold. During 2008 itself, some £1.6billion worth of development activity was completed in the city centre alone. This by far topped the total £980million worth of schemes completed between January 2004 and December 2007. This book takes a closer look at some of the larger developments finished during the period 2004-2008: Liverpool’s “Golden Age of Regeneration”.

Waterfront THE PIER HEAD Liverpool’s waterfront, with its internationally famous skyline punctuated by the Royal Liver Building, Cunard Building and Customs House fall within the city’s World Heritage Site. The Pier Head area is undergoing a massive regeneration, with investment taking place on a grand scale.

1. QE2 at the City of Liverpool Cruise Terminal The £19million cruise liner facility opened in September 2007. Now, the biggest liners in the world can practically sail into the City Centre, putting Liverpool on a par with New York, Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore. The terminal is seen as a major economic boost for the region thanks to the spending potential of liner passengers who can now more easily disembark to enjoy the delights which Liverpool and Merseyside has to offer.

2. Port of Liverpool Building Owners Downing Developments refurbished the Port of Liverpool Building, one of the famous Three Graces at the Pier Head during 2008. The building is predominantly used for offices, but as this key waterfront location is also capable of providing a prestigious and coveted residential address, Downing erected a single storey roof extension to create 18 new two bedroom apartments and a new pedestrian precinct below. The total cost of the project reached £20million. The building is also one of the many key city buildings now illuminated at night as part of the City of Light programme to enhance the experience of visiting the city during the evenings.

3. Liverpool Museum, Canal and Mann Island British Waterways invested £18.5million in extending the Leeds-Liverpool Canal via Princes Dock and the Pier Head to link up with the Albert Dock. The canal, completed in February 2009, passes underneath the new £65million Museum of Liverpool Life constructed over it by National Museums Liverpool; dubbed the “X Building”, it finally opened its doors in July 2011. Merseytravel also built a new £10.5million ferry terminal building nearby, and this opened with the first phase of public realm improvements at the Pier Head in October 2008. The rest of the scheme was completed in 2009. Meanwhile, Neptune Developments transformed the southern end of the Pier Head area with a £120million scheme which comprises public areas, cafes and restaurants, shops, exhibition space, 376 apartments and 140,000 square feet of commercial office space. The buildings, finished in black granite using designs by award-winning architects Broadway Malyan, were completed in phases during 2011.

Waterfront PRINCES DOCK Since 1998, Princes Dock has been developing as a major new mixed use quarter of the city use quarter of the city. New prestige offices have been created, whilst a new hotel has joined the existing Crowne Plaza which opened on the site 10 years ago. In more recent years, high quality apartment blocks have been constructed at the northern end of the dock.

4. City Lofts This £33million residential development was completed in 2006. Prices ranged from £130,000 for studio apartments to £500,000 for its penthouses when they first appeared on the market. The scheme was one of the first to entice potential buyers with bespoke interiors designed by Sir Terence Conran’s architectural company. At the end of 2008, developers City Loft Developments completed a second 9 storey, 121 apartment building to the north next to the Canning Half Tide Dock.

5. Malmaison Hotel The £21million, 131 bedroom boutique Malmaison hotel opened in January 2007. Its stunning interior includes the glass private dining room which is integrated into the hotel’s main kitchen so diners can watch head chef Mark Bennett at work. It also has the luxurious and exclusive Veuve Cliquot champagne bar - the third only in the world. The building also includes 44 luxury apartments. To the left of the building along Jessop Way is the £7million multi-storey car park completed in 2005. City Lofts can be seen at the far end.

6. Alexandra Tower Completed at the end of 2008 was Alexandra Tower (far left), a 26 storey residential tower. The majority of its 201 one, two and three bedroom apartments were sold off-plan in 2005 for prices between £197,000 and £375,000. The tower sits at the northern-most end of Princes Dock where the last phases of offices were completed in 2004 (centre and right).

Waterfront KINGS WATERFRONT

For over two decades, the Albert Dock has been Liverpool’s primary tourist attraction. However, the adjacent former King’s Dock has sat vacant as a sprawling car park. Today, the site is mid way through a massive regeneration which started with the new arena and conference centre, multi storey car park and two hotels. The remainder of the site will be developed for a mix of apartments, offices and some retail cafes and bars, with the first apartment building by Artisan being completed in early 2009.

7. Liverpool Echo Arena and BT Convention Centre The long awaited £146million arena & convention centre opened in January 2008 with the “Number 1 Project” concert which saw a capacity crowd of 10,000 enjoy the musical talents of Atomic Kitten, OMD, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood amongst others. 18 months before opening, the centre was inundated with bookings, including over 10% of the UK’s conference market attracted by its 1,350 seater facilities.

8. Jurys Inn Hotel and Staybridge Suites, King Waterfront

Liverpool’s hotel sector has boomed in recent years, with many visitors coming to the city both before and during its successful year as Capital of Culture for 2008. Since 2000, twenty-seven hotels have either been newly created or refurbished across the city to provide over 1,746 extra or refurbished bedrooms – the majority of these being in the city centre. When the 3 star, 310 bedroomed, £30milllion Jurys Inn Hotel opened next to the recently opened arena and convention centre in April 2008, over 80% of its rooms were booked for the first weekend alone, and bookings have remained healthy ever since. On average, throughout 2008, many hotels reported occupancy rates of over 70%, outperforming other cities including Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle. The 132 bedroomed, £17million Staybridge Suites hotel opened at the end of 2008 to offer serviced apartments.

9. Albert Dock & International Slavery Museum Nearly 25 years after its mid-1980s rebirth, the Albert Dock complex has been undergoing a quiet transformation. The Britannia Pavilion, used for offices, completed a £3.5million refurbishment in 2005. Many of the ground floor shops in other parts of the dock complex have been extended or enlarged by removing the central corridor; some of these have now reopened as exclusive bars and restaurants. The first phase of the £0.75million International Slavery Museum opened within the Maritime Museum in August 2007.

Commercial District NEW OFFICE DEVELOPMENTS In 2008, Liverpool City Centre has re-established itself as the driving force behind the north-west region’s economy. High quality office schemes have appeared on the waterfront at Princes Dock and in the heart of the Commercial Centre around Old Hall Street at St Paul’s Square, with new Grade A floorspace being in high demand by the professional, financial and public sectors.

1. City Square / Tithebarn Street Shepborough’s £29million 142,000 square feet office building was completed in April 2006. Amongst its tenants are the Department for Constitutional Affairs housing the city’s Civil and Family Courts. In January 2007, the building was sold by fund manager Close Investments to another investment firm, London & Capital for £49 million. City Square sits on Tithebarn Street, one of the flagship, multi award-winning environmental refurbishment schemes of the £73 million City Centre Movement Strategy.

2. Unity/20 Chapel Street Rumford Investment’s £65 million Unity, designed by award-winning architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, replaced a previous concrete-cancered early 1970s office building on the same site. Opened in January 2007, the building’s office element, known as 20 Chapel Street, secured a record rental figure for Liverpool of £20 per square foot from its first tenant - accountancy giant Ernst & Young. The six penthouses in the pod perched above the northern-most residential tower went on sale in October 2007 at £1.5 million each – the first to claim such a price tag in the north west, whilst the remainder of the apartments sold for between £107, 000 and £245,000.

3. West Tower, Brook Street The Beetham Organization’s impressive £35million West Tower is the final phase of its redevelopment of the former Old Hall Street Eye Hospital site which includes the Beetham Tower, Radisson Hotel and Unisys Building, home of the UK Passport Office. The new 40 storey residential building also contains 4 storeys of office accommodation. Along with Beetham Tower (far left in photo), this elegant tower, completed in early 2008, has become one of the new landmark structures within the office area, and is highly visible from the waterfront. The restaurant on its top floor is the highest in Britain.

4. St Paul’s Square St Paul’s Square, off Old Hall Street, is the city’s new flagship office development for 2008/2009. English Cities Fund invested £80million to create over 130,000 square feet of grade A space in several new office buildings, with ground floor cafes and restaurants, 68 residential apartments (selling initially for between £110,000 to £225,000), 398 space decked car park and a new landscaped public square. The first phase was completed in February 2008; the most recent phase opened in summer 2011. A further 1.7 million square feet of office space is planned on the adjacent site to the rear of Mercury Court.

Commercial RE-USING EXISTING BUILDINGS The creation of new buildings and floorspace has opened the way for building owners to temporarily empty and refurbish older, traditional office space which has been coming back onto the market to entice tenants with good quality second-hand space.

5. Exchange Buildings, Exchange Flags Property firm UK Land & Property acquired the Grade II listed Exchange Buildings complex comprising Walker House and Horton House in two phases. Horton House was refurbished in 2006/7 at a cost of £7million, with building and law firm Brabners Chaffe Street becoming the first major tenants taking 41,000 of its 160,000 square feet. They were soon followed by Knight Frank, global business services provider Regus, Strategic Back Office Solutions (SBOS) and Deloittes. Walker House followed in 2008 with a £15million refurbishment scheme attracting the Ministry of Defence to take one third of its 210,000 square feet, with leisure firm Coffee Republic taking space on the ground floor and stockbroker Blankstone Sington moving in in 2009.

6. Old Hall Street / Sainsburys With over 15,000 residents now living in the city centre (compared to just 2,300 in 1991), foodstores and other services had moved in to cater for growing demand, mostly for convenience foods. Sainsburys opened a store on Old Hall Street in 2005, adding to the number of existing supermarkets which are now also popular with office workers seeking those last minute food items for the fridge or that evening’s meal.

7. Yorkshire House, 18 Chapel Street In the shadow of 20 Chapel Street is Yorkshire House, an existing office building which was refurbished at a cost of £2million by Ethel Austin Properties in 2007. Originally built in 1926 as the headquarters of the Yorkshire Building Society, the elegant limestone building now provides 25,000 square feet of space over seven floors with sub-basement parking for 14 cars.

8. The Plaza Bruntwood Estates embarked on a £39million refurbishment of The Plaza, the former John Moores Building which they had acquired from the Littlewoods Group for £25 million in 2003. When the first phases were completed in 2006, its Grade A floorspace was marketed at the time for £14 per square foot. The final phase, the completion of a new entrance lobby fronting the recently completed St Paul’s Square, was finished in the summer of 2009.

Live Work District This historic and architecturally attractive quarter has continued to change. With several main roads such as Castle Street, Dale Street and Victoria Street passing through it, it is home to banking institutions, restaurants, and service sector shops such as small supermarkets, chemists and dry cleaners that benefit the growing number of city centre residents living here..

1. Hewitts Place, Vernon Street The City Centre Movement Strategy has seen £73million investment in improving Liverpool’s streets, pavements, street furniture and public open spaces. With Merseytravel, this has involved a redesign of the city centre’s traffic system, giving greater priority to public transport and pedestrians. Phase 1 of the strategy included Greater Williamson Square, the Cavern Quarter, Covent Garden and East Moorfields. Together, this series of schemes won the National Transport Award 2006 (Pedestrian and Walking category), and was also highly commended in the Local Government News Streetscape Award 2005. In addition, it received a Civic Trust Award commendation in 2006. Part of the East Moorfields Public Realm programme included Vernon Street, which runs between Dale Street and Tithebarn Street. It was resurfaced at a cost of £1.8million in 2005, and included the creation of a new public square at Hewitts Place, off Vernon Street. It is overlooked by the £6 million Travel Inn Hotel completed in 2003.

2. Temple Square The In 2007, Villagate Properties made the finishing touches to its Temple Square development, a key project which took over eight years to complete. Following completion of a new office building at 13-19 Temple Street in 2004, 2006 saw the subsequent refurbishment of Sovereign Chambers and Regency Chambers (right) as apartments, and the completion of 12 Temple Square (left) as ground floor commercial space with offices above. The three buildings completed that year cost £2.5million. The finishing touch, relandscaping of the square itself, was completed in early 2007 and has become a popular lunchtime meeting place for nearby office workers.

Live Work District HOTELS The many superb Victorian buildings in the Live Work District have proven popular with smaller and medium sized hotel operators. Some of the most elegant buildings, once banks or other institutions, have been converted to small and modest sized hotel accommodation, often linked to a ground floor bar/restaurant.

3. 62 Castle Street (former Trials Hotel) The former Trials Hotel overlooking Derby Square was renamed “62 Castle Street” when it was purchased in 2005 by the Crowne Plaza operator Centre Island Developments and its 20 luxury en-suite bedrooms, conferencing and banquet facilities refurbished at a cost of £1million. North of England restaurant group Room Holdings spent a further £500,000 on the ground floor restaurant in July 2006. The eaterie now has seating for 110, a cocktail lounge for non-diners, a VIP area and two private dining rooms each catering for 12 to 40 people.

4. Hard Days Night Hotel, North John Street The widely anticipated £17million Hard Days Night Hotel was developed by Bowdena Ltd in the former Grade II listed Central Buildings. The hotel is on the edge of the Mathew Street quarter, close to the historic Cavern Club with its connections to The Beatles. Its 110 rooms, all named after a Beatles song or someone connected with the band, each contain a unique artwork by American airbrush artist Shannon. The hotel also contains a restaurant brasserie, two bars and a chapel room for civil wedding ceremonies.

5. Eleanor Rigby Hotel, 34 Stanley Street The 18 bedroom Eleanor Rigby Hotel opened at Christmas 2007 inside a former shipping warehouse.

6. Eleanor Rigby statue / Stanley Street The famous Eleanor Rigby statue, immortalized in the Beatles’ song, sits opposite the hotel that also shares her name. Stanley Street was one of the many streets to be repaved in the award-winning City Centre Movement Strategy programme during 2007.

7. Sir Thomas Hotel, Victoria Street The 39 bedroomed Sir Thomas Hotel opened its doors in late 2005 in another Grade II listed building originally home to the Bank of Liverpool. Its bar and restaurant have since been refurbished.

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Live Work District RESIDENTIAL The Live Work District contains a network of small backstreets and alleys. Either lacking main street frontages or unsuitable for office refurbishment, new uses have been found for empty buildings as residential apartments. Where clearance of redundant, non-listed buildings has taken place, newer buildings have the luxury of undeground or lower floor private parking facilities.

8. 18-25 Cumberland Street Mclean / Illiad constructed 92 new apartments with basement car parking at Cumberland Street, to the rear of the former Council Education offices. The £3.5million scheme was completed in 2006.

9. Peter House, 63-67 Tithebarn Street This former uninspiring 1970s office building on Tithebarn Street was transformed in early 2005 in a £1.4million refurbishment scheme by D & L Developments to create 21 apartments above office/retail floorspace. The addition of balconies with coloured panels to the apartments give it a strikingly modern appearance.

10. Westminster Chambers, Dale Street Space created 62 residential apartments from this striking Grade II listed former office building in late 2006 in a £3.5million refurbishment. Although lacking car parking space, the building’s developers linked up with a new car club scheme operated by WhizzGo, whereby apartment buyers would get free car hire for a period of six months after moving in.

11. Tower Buildings, The Strand In 2005, Pierse Homes spent £24.5million refurbishing the Grade II listed Tower Buildings fronting The Strand to form 93 apartments over leisure and retail. Its triplex penthouse apartment, with views of the Liver Building and the river beyond and landscaped roof garden, was one of the first in the city to be sold for over £1million when released in early 2006.

12. Eden Square Downing Developments’ £22million mixed use “Eden Square” new build completed at the end of 2007. It has 127 apartments over commercial space. In future years, Downing will be turning its attention to refurbishing the adjacent Grade II listed former fire station, former police station and the current magistrates court as a mixture of apartments, offices, delicatessens, restaurants and coffee shops costing an extra £38million. The larger scheme will be known as the “Garden Quarter”.

Lime Street Gateway CULTURAL QUARTER Lime Street is at the heart of the city’s Cultural Quarter, where significant investment has been seen in the city’s premier buildings for the benefit of city residents as well as visiting tourists.

1. World Museum Liverpool Until April 2005, visitors to the city’s main museum on William Brown Street had to negotiate an impressive, though unhelpful to some, flight of stairs. Following a £33million refurbishment programme, a new street level entrance was opened, giving access to a stunning new atrium. The amount of display space was doubled, allowing many exhibits, unseen for years for lack of space, to be put on display in the galleries which now also feature the latest interactive and technological facilities. The internationally important collections include archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences, as well as Britain’s only free Planetarium.

2. St George’s Hall The Grade I listed St George’s Hall reopened its doors following a £23million, 5 year refurbishment in April 2007. Repairs and redecoration were carried out to the roof, stairwells, north entrance hall and the Small Concert Room - where Charles Dickens gave penny readings. A new visitors’ centre was opened at the newly created, wheelchair-friendly south entrance of the building where an entrance hall, designed by the building’s original architect Harvey Longsdale Elmes, had never been used by the public before.

3. St George’s Hall – Concert Hall The magnificent tiled Minton floor of St George's Hall concert hall had been covered with floorboards to preserve it since 1997. Now, however, the floor – which includes 30,000 hand crafted tiles depicting tritons, sea nymphs and boys on dolphins and by CR Cockerell – can be seen every day by visitors to the Heritage Centre.

4. St John’s Garden St John’s Garden, situated next to St George’s Hall is one of the city’s thirteen Green Flag Award winning parks where our Parks & Environment teams make every effort to maintain a clean, high quality environment for relaxation. The Green Flag Award scheme is managed by the Civic Trust on behalf of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Green Flag Advisory Board. Members of the Board include CABE Space and the Big Lottery Fund. This national standard for parks and green spaces is a key component of the Government's commitment to create cleaner, safer and greener communities.

Lime Street Gateway Lime Street Gateway is also home to Lime Street Station where rail visitors to the city are greeted with their first view and taste of what Liverpool has to offer.

5. Station Concourse, Lime Street Station First impressions are important, so in 2007, Merseytravel and Network Rail carried out a £2million improvement scheme to part of the Lime Street Station concourse. This included removal of former Red Star parcels building, provision of new taxi and private vehicle drop-off/pick-up area (with access from Skelhorne Street), relocation of short stay car parking facility, relocation of decorative glazed screening and resurfacing. In 2008, a further £3.4million scheme was started to create two new passenger lounges, an information point, three shops and railway staff accommodation.

6. Lime Street Gateway A £35million scheme improved the frontage and access to Lime Street Station from Lime Street itself. Following demolition of the Concourse House tower (a disastrous example of 1960s bland architecture) and row of single storey flat-roofed shops, the arched gable end of the listed Victorian station building were revealed. A new area of public realm was created, punctuated with lime trees in raised stone planters, with steps, ramps and lifts provided to improve access to the station concourse. The project, undertaken jointly by the Homes and Communities Agency (previously known as English Partnerships), Liverpool City Council, Network Rail and Merseytravel, completed in early summer 2010.

7. Seymour Street/Copperas Hill Part of the £73million City Centre Movement Strategy is the redirecting of through traffic away from Lime Street and the Cultural Quarter. This £1.5million scheme removed the St Vincent Way gyratory and made Seymour Street a dual carriageway, taking traffic down Copperas Hill to connect with Renshaw Street. Pedestrian crossings were improved, and pavements resurfaced with higher quality, longer lasting and more durable materials in common with the rest of the surfaces being introduced across the city centre as part of the overall strategy.

8. Alima House, St Vincent Street The Nelson Street/Bridport Street area behind Lime Street Station is a relatively quiet backwater of Georgian terraces, redundant warehouses and cleared sites. Alima House is an example of the confidence seen by smaller property investors in recent years to capitalize on the demand for quality residential apartments, and showing what can be done with very small sites. This £1.25million building had 6 apartments built over ground floor office space.

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Retail

LIVERPOOL ONE Phase 1 of the £1billion scheme opened on 29th May 2008 with the world’s longest catwalk stretching the full length of South John Street between the two anchor stores, Debenhams and John Lewis. Models paraded clothes from Debenhams, Esprit, Jane Norman, Monsoon and John Lewis. Clothes were also modelled by former Liverpool Football Club players Alan Kennedy, Jan Molby and Jason McAteer. On that day, 50 stores opened their doors to 200,000 of the city’s eager shoppers amidst a huge firework display, dancers and acrobats.

1. Costa Coffee and Debenhams Costa Coffee is now housed in the building to the left, decorated with colourful fluted tubes that make a statement at the South John Street entrance to the scheme. Opposite is the new Debenhams store which, on its first day of opening, rocketed to the top 5 of the company’s stores in sales terms.

2. John Lewis Store, South John Street John Lewis relocated their store from Church Street into one of the new anchor stores within the Liverpool One development. By September 2008, the store had exceeded its sales expectations by 14% in the first three months of operation, bucking the national trend which had seen sales in the companies 27 other UK stores decline by 8.3% over the same period as the credit crunch of the summer of 2008 began to bite. The five-storey, 240,000 sq ft shop is the group’s biggest outside London and employs 860 people. The 58 metre long pedestrian footbridge linking the store to the Q car park at Liver Street is the longest single-span box bridge in the world, whilst the car park itself, opened at the end of 2005 and the first actual building of the Liverpool One scheme to be completed, won an award within weeks naming it the second-best car park in the country by motoring guru Kevin Beresford when he compiled a league table of the best motorist-friendly car parks in Britain whilst he was conducting research for AA Insurance.

3. South John Street The heart of the retail element of the scheme is South John Street, which has been developed as a multi-levelled shopping street. Opening of the third, upper level with its restaurants and 14 screen cinema was delayed until phase 2.

4. New Bus Station The new bus station had been opened some time before the phase 1 launch, and features two iconic "waves" of stainless steel shelters and sustainable timber roofing.

Retail LIVERPOOL ONE Phase 2 was opened on 1st October 2008 by the Princess Royal, Princess Anne in a second lavish ceremony. Focusing on the new Chavasse Park and the stunning top terrace, a festival was organised that featured street artists and musicians. John Williams’s Olympic Fanfare, played by London’s Enterprise Brass on a specially built bandstand, greeted the official party to the platform on the Sugarhouse Steps as thousands of Liverpool citizens and visitors came to admire the latest segment of Liverpool’s new 21st century city centre to be completed. The event culminated with a stunning firework finale set to music that lit up the skies over Liverpool.

5. Thomas Steers Way One of the main aims of the development had been to link the historic Albert Dock complex, seen in the distance in this photograph, with the existing retail area centred on Church Street. Thomas Steers Way is the new street which provides this link as it passes the new Hilton Hotel (seen on left) due to open in 2009, and the new water feature called ‘The Pool of Life’ (centre). In the centre foreground are the Sugarhouse Steps, leading from Thomas Steers Way up to Chavasse Park where Jaguar Cars mounted an advertising display in the first few months after the opening. Towering to the right is One Park West. The park sits on top of the 1,900 space ‘Q-Park’ multi-level car park which is accessed from The Strand via a system of new underpasses. One of the lift towers giving access to the car park can be seen in the right foreground.

6. Pedestrian bridges over South John Street Chavasse Park is linked to the third level of the retail/leisure development by a series of footbridges over South John Street, from where visitors can look down on shoppers browsing along the various terraces. The lattice steel and glass structure is a deflector which the architects claim will deflect chilly winds from the Mersey over the top of the development.

7. The Galleria, 14 Paradise Street (overleaf) The second phase includes a 14-screen Odeon cinema and a string of bars and restaurants overlooking the park. One of the first new eateries to arrive were international noodle bar Wagamama, and the Mexican themed Barburrito. In the distance, the distinctive domed tower of the former Royal Insurance Building can be seen, and to the left of it is one of the ventilating towers for the rail tunnel beneath the River Mersey.

8. Chavasse Park – looking east The five-acre Chavasse Park sits above the 1,900 space Q-Park car park. The multilevel underground car park features granite steps, a staircase modelled on a windmill, atrium styling, dramatic lighting and unusually wide parking spaces. The roof of the spiral staircase atrium is made of glass (centre of photo), which visitors to the park above can stand on and look down into. St John’s Beacon, on top of the St John’s Shopping Centre and home of Radio City since 2002 can be seen in the distance.

9. Chavasse Park – looking west To the west, the park has stunning views of the Albert Dock and the River Mersey. One Park West stands on the park’s northern perimeter (centre right).

10. One Park West, The Strand The futuristic, 17 storey, Cesar Pelli designed One Park West building comprises 326 apartments, offices, restaurants and cafes with its own underground parking. Pelli also designed the soaring Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

11. Chavasse Park – the gardens Chavasse Park features plants and trees on the west facing slope overlooking the river. Pedestrians can walk to the upper level of the park via a series of steps or a ramp that meanders through a colourful collection of specimen plants and trees.

12. Paradise Street These are the new shops which now stand on the site of the former Paradise Street bus station and the Moat House Hotel (and the 1950s Coronation Gardens that was temporarily constructed on the WWII bombsite before them). The 14 screen Odeon cinema sits at the top level, which can be accessed via a series of zig-zagging steps …..or escalators and lifts for those feeling less energetic.

13. Radio Merseyside, Hanover Street One of the first major obstacles that was overcome at the beginning of the project was to relocate BBC Radio Merseyside from their existing building that needed to be demolished to make way for the new shopping centre. This new, purpose-built centre is now one of the feature buildings on Hanover Street.

14. ‘Herberts’ Bling-Bling, Hanover Street Herbert Howe, the flamboyant hairdresser, star of fly-on-the-wall documentaries and wearer of silver suits, was the first new tenant of the first building in the Liverpool One scheme to be completed in 2006. Designed by signature architect Piers Gough, the striking glass and white marble building is spread over five floors and, with its quirky gold coloured overhanging windows and therefore dubbed the ‘Bling Bling Building’, it rapidly became a local landmark.

15. Church House, 1 Hanover Street

Church House is one of the many fine existing buildings along Hanover Street which have been retained and refurbished for office space in the Liverpool One scheme. Church House stands at the important junction of Hanover Street, Paradise Street and Duke Street.

Liverpool One won the Royal Town Planning Institute national award 2009 for best city or metropolitan scheme, along with a series of RIBA awards. By the end of 2008, it was also announced that Liverpool had catapulted back up the retail hierarchy from 16th to 5th in national retail rankings, with footfall figures up 10% compared to -8% nationally (Dec 07- Dec 08) and Liverpool stores reported to be weathering the credit crunch better than the UK average. An extra £850million was spent in the city centre in 2008.

Retail OTHER SCHEMES Whilst anticipating the arrival of Liverpool One, major changes began to occur in the city’s main retail area. Not only did Milligan speed up the completion of their ‘Met Quarter’ project, other retailers such as Primark swooped in to acquire and refurbish existing buildings in and around Church Street. At the same time, the City Council embarked on a series of repaving schemes to improve the quality of the streets surrounding the emerging new scheme at Paradise Street.

16. Whitechapel and the MET Quarter Whitechapel and Stanley Street were repaved in a £1.5 million improvement scheme during 2007. The work included the use of high quality materials, including bespoke crafted bronze benches on Whitechapel inspired by the Pool Project which seeks to interpret the line of the original coastal inlet at Liverpool before its development as a major port. In 2006, the former wartime bomb damaged Post Office building in the heart of the city centre was converted into the MET Quarter (right), an exciting £70million retail development with two levels of shops and restaurants faced with Jura limestone, and a central, glazed roof mall decorated with large chandeliers and specially-commissioned sculptures and hangings. The shopping centre has become synonymous with retail fashion outlets including Armani, Hugo Boss and Flannels amongst the 40 tenants. In 2007, Milligans sold the building for £85million to Alanis Capital.

17. The Bluecoat Centre and Bluecoat Garden Bluecoat Arts Centre has developed the oldest building in Liverpool city centre as an exciting arts, heritage, cultural business and retail complex for the 21st Century. This £9.75 million scheme secured the future of one of the city's best-loved buildings, retaining its special qualities while addressing its access and accommodation issues. The historic fabric of this Grade I listed building dating from 1717 was restored, creating a new wing housing an art gallery and performance space (seen on the far right), whilst reorganising existing spaces to create better access throughout. New, enlarged facilities present the best in contemporary visual and performing arts, and community events. Retail spaces, cultural business offices and artists' studios were improved. Bluecoat's unique history is now being brought to life through a heritage display. The garden has been enhanced, retaining its special quality as a place to relax in the heart of the city. It reopened in spring 2008 after being closed for two years during the refurbishment.

Retail OTHER SCHEMES Not only is the Main Retail Area a favourite location to shop and visit for the cultural attractions and its leisure pursuits, it is also a popular location to live for those who want to be close to the things they love about City Living.

18. Central Gardens, Mount Pleasant In 2006, Thamesbrook Ltd completed ‘Central Gardens’ at 38-44 Mount Pleasant, an £8.8million scheme which included 87 apartments and retail/commercial/ leisure use at ground and basement level. The scheme also saw apartments and ground floor retail developed on the site of the former Mount Royal Hotel the following year (far right). The scheme sits on either side of the small courtyard style garden attached to Central Hall that fronts onto Renshaw Street, hence the name.

19. City Gate, 3-27 Oldham Street In the mid 1990s, the Oldham Street area – dominated by derelict warehouses – was to have been demolished to make way for a relief road. When the government refused to back the scheme (which was later implemented by improving Renshaw Street and Copperas Hill instead), the various sites became attractive to developers looking for more space to feed the city centre’s residential market. In 2005, Regeneration Property Homes Ltd completed City Gate which comprises two 7 storey blocks containing 87 apartments with ground floor office and retail space. New build schemes such as this also allow for secure car parking for residents to be provided.

20. Adelphi Hotel, Ranelagh Place In 2008, the world famous Adelphi Hotel completed a £6million upgrade which included new conference facilities and additional security measures.

21. Church Street Church Street was repaved in 2007 with new high quality granite paving, lighting, benches, bins and tree planting at a cost of £5.5million. The overall design theme called 'The Ribbons of Life' (depicted by the paving pattern) represents social, economic and cultural aspects of Liverpool and its people. Cafes along the route now have outdoor seating for shoppers to watch the world go by as they sip their lattes.

22. Williamson Square Since its completion in 2005, Williamson Square’s fountain has proven a popular feature with visitors trying to run between the 20 water jets. The fountain is programmed by its own computer which allows for two spectacular displays every hour with the height of the water varying throughout the day. Surrounding the fountain, inlaid into the granite paving, is a specially written poem on the theme of water, a gift to the city by Roger McGough.

Ropewalks In recent years, the pace of change in the city’s Ropewalks area has been dramatic. Once dominated by rows of derelict historic warehouses and streets strewn with fly tipped rubbish, the area is now a fashionable place in which to both live and work.

1. Argyle Court, Campbell Square/Cleveland Square 50 apartments, offices, commercial space, retail and a PCT health facility arrived at Argyle Court in 2006 in a £5.5million refurbishment and infill scheme which completed development around the new Campbell Square (2002).

2. Circle 109, Lydia Ann Street Pierse Developments constructed this striking £14.75million mixed use residential scheme in 2006. Its 7 storeys contain 109 apartments, ground floor retail space, a communal courtyard and two levels of basement car parking.

3. The Foundry, Henry Street/Lydia Ann Street The Foundry was a £3.5million mixed use development, mostly residential apartments, built by Maritime Housing Association in July 2007.

4. Arthouse Square In 2005, Frenson Ltd refurbished a conserved warehouse on Seel Street and built a new office building, together creating 30,000 sq ft of space now occupied by the Liverpool Health Authority and the city’s Local Strategic Partnership, Liverpool First. A new public square, situated to the rear of the FACT Centre, was also completed as part of the £4million scheme.

5. Concert Steps, Seel Street A former warehouse oat 13-21 Seel Street has been converted into a 2,000 capacity night-time hotspot known as Concert Steps. The four storey building contains four bars, two nightclubs, a VIP lounge on the top floor, an outdoor rooftop terrace, café bar and restaurant. ‘Cube’ was one of the first clubs to open when the scheme was completed by Frenson Ltd in August 2008. The project provides a new pedestrian link between Concert Square and Liverpool One via Seel Street.

6. Casartelli Building Built in 1760 by the Italian Casartelli family who ran their scientific instrument manufacturing business from the site, the original Casartelli Building became a wine warehouse before falling into disuse. Restoration plans in 1991 and 1999 failed to start, and the Grade II listed building was condemned in 2001 after engineers found they would have to remove all the brickwork above the ground floor to replace a rotten beam. Liverpool Property Holdings Ltd took on the £4.3million scheme and completely reconstructed the building to include a 7,000 sq ft ground floor shopping area, 31 luxury two-bedroom apartments, five two and three-bedroom penthouse suites, and underground parking. This symbol of the Liverpool Echo newspaper’s ‘Stop the Rot’ campaign finally rose from the rubble of demolition in 2006.

7. Upper Duke Place This new public square was created at the junction of Upper Duke Street and Great George Street as part of the £4million Renshaw Street/Berry Street environmental improvement scheme that was sponsored by the Department for Transport in 2005 using high quality surfacing, street furniture, tree planting and lighting to create an attractive environment.

8. Alma da Cuba, Seel Street St Peter's Church, reputed to be the city’s oldest church and built in 1788 by Benedictine monks as Liverpool's second post-reformation Catholic Mission, was converted into a high quality restaurant run by Alma da Cuba in 2005. The £2.1million scheme by developer Urban Splash provides a spectacular self-contained space with accommodation over the ground, first and mezzanine floors.

9. East Village, Kent Street/Duke Street East Village is a dynamic and exciting development in the heart of Liverpool City Centre. Developers Iliad and Miller undertook this revolutionary development project creating one of the UK's first Urban Villages. This £20million scheme, completed in 2004, includes 250 apartments, a Community College, 10,000 sq ft of offices, retail space and restaurants which include sushi and noodle specialists Sapporo Teppanyaki, and Italian pasta and pizzeria experts, Il Forno.

L1 / Baltic The Baltic Triangle, sandwiched between Ropewalks and Wapping Dock is a mixture of old warehouses in use as industrial premises and creative arts, and now a growing residential community bringing life back to the area.

1. 30-35 Great George Square Maritime Housing Association completed this £4million social housing scheme with 34 apartments, 3 maisonettes and 6 town houses in 2006. The scheme, which involved the refurbishment of existing Georgian properties and new build, overlooks Great George Square itself which was relandscaped in 2005.

2. Chandlers Wharf, Tabley Street/Cornhill This development by J Armor Ltd and designed by Falconer Chester Architects consists of 132 one and two bedroomed apartments, all with private balconies. The scheme occupies two sites straddling Cornhill. The taller block has a centre piece cylindrical tower rising 8 storeys with two 6 storey rectilinear blocks either side. The larger, but lower block sits symmetrically opposite and surrounds a new landscaped courtyard at first floor level. The whole scheme is underpinned by two levels of basement car parking. Prices ranged from £120,000 to £205,000 for the apartments first released on the market in 2007/8, and the development has since picked up a number of awards including ‘Best Apartment Scheme over 50 Properties' and a ‘Design Award' at the ‘Your Move Magazine Property Awards’.

3. Quay House, Wapping/Hurst Street J Armor Ltd completed this £2.6million six storey apartment block comprising 11 flats and car parking next to the Baltic Fleet pub in 2006.

5. Hampton by Hilton Hotel, Kings Dock Mill

4. Novas Contemporary Urban Arts Centre, Greenland Street This £9.7million Arts, Cultural and Social Enterprise development opened its doors in September 2007, having been developed in partnership with local community groups and the City. Covering 170,000 sq feet within a converted warehouse, the scheme provides a 840 standing/430 large music/entertainment venue, two theatre/cinemas, wine bars/pub, nightclub and performance venues along side a significant visual art gallery, market retail/social enterprise areas, conferencing and training venues and community office space. The aim of the venture is to create an employment and training infrastructure for marginalised communities, artists, people from Black and Minority Community Groups and the diverse local communities represented in Liverpool by highlighting the work and objects of the Novas Group in tackling discrimination, social exclusion and poverty through working with local, regional and national organisations as well as with international partners.

“Kings Dock Mill”, next to the Baltic Fleet pub, is a £47million mixed use development in a 12, 10, 8 and 6 storey building comprising 190 one and two bedroomed apartments, offices, and a 150 bed ‘Hampton by Hilton’ hotel (only the third to be developed in the UK). The hotel was completed in summer 2010, with the apartments and offices finishing in early 2011.

Marybone Marybone consists of a long established residential community to the north of the city centre, which has been boosted in recent years by significant development by Liverpool John Moores University to provide new student accommodation. The area has also seen new apartments appearing to attract longer term residents.

1. Focus Building, Great Crosshall Street Green Apple Urban Developments completed this £7million contemporary apartment building on Great Crosshall Street in 2005. It contains 78 one and two bedroomed apartments and top level duplex penthouses, along with ground floor commercial/retail space. The scheme incorporates a large open atrium that divides the apartment entrances allowing natural daylight to filter into the scheme giving the apartments a dual aspect. This space provides a secure private quality landscaped courtyard for use by its residents. The building adopts a fresh new palate of materials clad in silver zinc panels, white render and metal windows with glass balconies.

2. Hamilton House, Pall Mall Green Apple Urban Developments also redeveloped the former headquarters of the Merseyside Health Authority for use as 126 residential apartments with ground floor retail/commercial space and parking. It was completed at the end of 2008.

3. Marybone Student Village – Phases 1 to 3 Marybone Student Village was constructed in three phases by Cosmopolitan Housing Association between 2000 and 2005. The whole scheme was developed on a prominent semi-derelict and vacant site on Tithebarn Street, at the top end of Hatton Garden. It now offers 816 en-suites, Deluxe and Standard bedrooms in 4, 5 and 6 bedroom furnished apartments which form a major chunk of the 2,500 new student apartments constructed in the city centre between 2000 and 2007. Ground floor units with main street frontages within the overall development were offered for retail uses. These now include shops and a walk-in pharmacy/clinic. The overall cost was £8million.

4. 53 Marybone/38 Marlborough Street Harvey Developments completed this £0.5million 6 storey block of 18 apartments (seen on the right, situated behind Marybone Student Village seen on the left) in November 2005. It is typical of the many small and medium-sized apartment buildings constructed by smaller developers who came to the city at the middle of the decade to feed the then hungry market for city centre living.

University Edge LONDON ROAD AREA The seeds of regeneration in the London Road area were sown back in the early 1990s when the London Road Development Agency was established with funding from the City Challenge programme. Although the agency was dissolved in 1998, development work has continued to tranform this once neglected quarter of the city centre.

1. 142-148 London Road This development is typical of the many finer buildings in the London Road area which had been semi-derelict for over two decades. J & D Property Services took on the scheme in 2007 to carry out alterations and build extensions to the rear to create 14 new apartments above ground floor retail space. The £0.3million scheme was completed in summer 2008. The high quality paving seen in the foreground was one of the London Road Development Agency’s flagship environmental schemes carried out in the mid 1990s.

2. Centre for Tropical and Infectious Diseases, Pembroke Place The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine opened its new £23million Centre for Tropical and Infectious Diseases (CTID) in summer 2008. When fully operational it will employ some 650 people, and boost the work of 250 small biotechnology firms by 2015. The CTID has already attracted interest from scientists and entrepreneurs worldwide, including £25.45m ($50m) from US Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates in 2005 for research into malaria, and a further £2.04m ($4m) in 2008 for research into the tsetse fly.

3. “The Atrium”, 139A-143 London Road J Armor Ltd completed this £2.6million six storey apartment block comprising 11 flats and car parking next to the Baltic Fleet pub in 2006.

4. “Opal Court”, London Road/Moss Street Opal Court is another high quality student residential scheme completed in March 2006 at a cost of £16million. It has around 500 bedrooms organised into flats of between 4 and 5 bedrooms each, with each bedroom featuring a private en-suite bathroom. It is also houses an on-site gym and swimming pool, for which an additional charge of around £175 per year is payable.

Liverpool is one of the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s major university cities. With over 50,000 students studying here at our three universities, some 15,000 graduates complete their courses every year. In previous decades, many of them spent their time billeted in sub-standard, cheap accomodation across the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suburbs. Today, they enjoy quality accomodation in the city centre, built specifically for their needs, and accompanied with a variety of services including food stores, launderettes, chemists and health centres â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as well as cafes, restaurants and bars.

University Edge KNOWLEDGE QUARTER The Knowledge Quarter is home to an unrivalled concentration of knowledge economy assets drawn to the universities, health facilities, including the Royal Liverpool Hospital which is to be rebuilt at a cost of £477million.

5. Liverpool University Department of Engineering, Brownlow Hill Completed in 2009, this £29million scheme refurbished the Department of Engineering’s facilities, including the construction of a new 2 storey laboratory extension and 3 storey circulation block to the rear. The building is illuminated with a series of LED lights at night-time, which can be individually coloured changed to create patterns and even words for advertising purposes.

6. “Capital Gate”, Daulby Street This £5million development by Parkmoor Properties provides 430 bedspaces for students and key workers in the city. It was completed early in 2005.

7. 5-9 Prescot Street

Prescot Street, which shares the front entrance to the city’s Royal Liverpool Hospital, has seen a significant revival over the last five years. Encouraged by the building of a new multi-storey car park opposite the hospital entrance itself, and the creation of the Prospect Point/Liberty Place student accommodation, owners of smaller sites and premises along the street have been refurbishing their properties for similar retail and residential uses. This building was converted by developer Poseidon Properties in 2006 from a derelict shell to 8 apartments with 2 retail units on the ground floor.

8. Sydney Jones Library, Chatham Street Liverpool University's Sydney Jones Library at Chatham Street reopened following a two year £17million refurbishment scheme which included the erection of a 3-storey building linking the University's former headquarters at Senate House to the library. The facility now houses more than 1.2 million books, specialist IT facilities, teaching rooms, and a cafe with outdoor terrace. The sloping plaza infront of the buildings was also redesigned and repaved with a series of steps and ramps to improve access to the library. It was officially reopened by poets Roger McGough and Brian Patten, both honorary graduates of the University, on 6th November 2008.

9. LJMU Art & Design Academy The £27million Art and Design Academy was opened in 2009 by Liverpool John Moores University. The building contains seminar rooms, galleries, catering and exhibition space and stunning roof terraces with spectacular city views.

Hope The Hope Quarter is home to significant developments supporting the academic, education and knowledge sectors, including the £23.5 Art & Design Academy which will be completed at Great Orford Street in 2009.

1. Liverpool Science Park, Mount Pleasant This first phase of the £14million Liverpool Science Park, opened in 2005, provides incubator units for new breakout businesses from the Universities, encouraging graduating students to set up businesses in the city rather than leave Liverpool to do so elsewhere. It specialises in supporting young research-based companies with intellectual property in the science, engineering, biotechnology and IT sectors. Working on behalf of the Science Park Company, developers Neptune completed the second phase, off Brownlow Hill, during 2009.

2. Liverpool Community College, Mulberry Street With 26,000 students and spread across 7 campuses around the city, Liverpool Community College was awarded Beacon Status in 2006. Its site at Mulberry Street, opened in January 2006, includes facilities such as a refectory. Its drop-in-studycentre and learning resource centre are shared with students from the neighbouring Arts Centre on Myrtle Street creating a lively and energetic atmosphere.

3. Victoria Gallery & Museum, Brownlow Hill Established in 1892, the red-brick Victoria Building was restored in early 2008 as part of a £8.6m project funded by the University of Liverpool and its patrons. It now houses the Victoria Gallery and Museum, opened by the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, and contains exhibitions and displays from the university’s vast collections that had previously been rarely seen by the public. The first floor houses an art collection that includes early English watercolours, ceramics, fine art and furniture. The Tate Hall, on the second floor, includes natural history artefacts and paintings by Joseph Wright of Derby and Turner, as well as work by Lucian Freud. To the left is “The Foundation”, an £8million building providing office ground floor retail space with basement level parking, and office space on the floors above for newly created companies that have outgrown the incubator space in the nearby Liverpool Science Park. It was completed in summer 2005.

4. Chambre Hardman Collection, 59 Rodney Street The National Trust spent £1.7million restoring this Georgian terraced house at the end of 2004. It remains the only known photographic practice where the photographer’s (Chambre Hardman) entire output has remained intact together with his home, business and personal papers. His photographs provide a unique record of life in a major city such as Liverpool in the early 20th century.

Hope HOPE STREET AREA Hope Street connects the city's core to its main cultural, educational and Georgian quarters, and houses a number of regionally - and nationally - significant Higher Education institutions, cultural and heritage attractions and arts-based organisations in a highly unique and distinct heritage setting. And, of course, it runs between the city's two Cathedrals.

1. Hope Street environmental improvements In 2006, the City Council implemented a ÂŁ2.8m programme of improvements along Hope Street. The scheme included total repaving, footpath widening, improved pedestrian crossings, road junctions, the creation of dedicated meter-controlled parking bays and permit-controlled parking bays for residents, the creation of the 'Philharmonic Square' and dedicated drop-off zone outside the Philharmonic Hall, new street lighting, street furniture and cycle racks. Materials were obtained where possible from sustainable sources, with specific re-use of original Yorkstone footpath paving or the retention of existing footpaths. In 2007, the Hope Street Public Realm scheme won the LGN (Local Government News Highways Award 2007 which rewards excellence in highway improvement design. The scheme was also a finalist in the Horticulture Week Awards 2007.

2. Mews Cottages, 10â&#x20AC;&#x201D;12 Pilgrim Street Although a limited trend due to the availability of suitable land or vacant property, larger gardens and redundant garage/outbuildings of some of the large Victorian and Georgian terraces have been converted or provide new build space for small mews type houses such as those at the rear of 31 Rodney Street.

3. 9-11 Back Canning Street These new build homes on another back street typify how Conservation Areas can be both enhanced and protected with carefully considered, sympathetic styles and materials..

4. Cathedral Point, 31 Hope Street In November 2008, Cosmopolitan Commercial Ltd converted a former student hostel into ground floor commercial space with nine apartments on the upper floors. Before its renovation, the building was known as Cubitt House, and was named after Norfolk born Sir William Cubitt (1785-1861), a famous railway and canal engineer; inventor of patent windmill sails and of the prison treadwheel.

Canning/Georgian Quarter The Canning Area/Georgian Quarter is characterised by terraces of classic Gerogian and early Victorian homes built by the city’s richer shipping magnates and merchants who settled here during the 18th and 19th centuries. Unfavourable during the 1960s to 90s because of their high maintenance costs, in the last decade the houses themselves have become much sought after for their period features perferred by homehunters not wanting the bland modern styles favoured by others. Although many were converted to flats and bedsits in previous decades, the current trend appears to be deconversion back into traditional, if luxuriously spacious, family-sized homes. These have proven very popular with people from London and the South relocating to Liverpool where they find property prices considerably more reasonable. Having said that, average values in the Canning area around 2000 stood at £120,000, but where converted properties do come onto the market today, prices of £700,000 and above are now common. Co-incidentally, these magnificent streets attract the attention of film and television producers who use them for period exterior shots. Across Liverpool as a whole, film production is worth around £12m a year to the city’s economy.

1. Falkner Square, Falkner Street Falkner Square remains one the green jewels in the area’s crown. This beautiful outlook has encouraged the owners of the surrounding houses to capitalise on their assets, and between 2004 and 2008 there have been a fair number of refurbishments and conversions, including of basements to provide luxurious new homes for ever willing homebuyers. Homes overlooking Falkner Square command some of the highest values in the area. Dating from the 1830s, the Square was originally gated for the exclusive use of keyholding residents who lived around it. During WWII it fell into disrepair whilst being used as a site for air-raid shelters. However, it was refurbished in the 1950’s, and since 2003 has been one of the city’s many recipients of the Green Flag award recognising the high standard to which it is maintained. Across the UK, Manchester is currently the only authority with more Green Flags (26), whilst the City of London is in joint second place with Liverpool at 14 each.

2. 51-55 Catharine Street These three adjoining properties were converted to a total of 12 self contained apartments in 2005. At that time, the city centre’s residential market was at its peak and they were sold within weeks of coming onto the market.

City of Light illumination at the Anglican Cathedral The city’s Anglican Cathedral is one of the many key buildings across the city centre illuminated as part of the award-winning ‘City of Light’ programme. In March 2007 the cathedral’s new visitor facilities were opened. Grouped together under a new logo “The Great Space”, the entire upgrade included a new visitor centre, a refurbished shop, a mezzanine cafe bar, and work to improve the refectory and outside patio area. The £3million investment was backed by European funding.