Liverpool is a city that certainly seems to be embracing growth, change and development with open arms. Over the past few years, Liverpool City Council has approved a number of important changes – and there are more exciting construction projects in the pipeline.
Some of these big projects have been applied for by private companies, but others have been planned by the City Council themselves, following several successful bids for government funding.
These developments will be made in a range of sectors, from healthcare to hotels and retail, and will transform the city in a variety of ways. This will include providing new job opportunities and better healthcare for those in need. Read on to learn how construction in Liverpool is changing the city’s skyline and economy for the better
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Cultural Constructs
Liverpool has been an iconic part of the UK’s cultural fabric for many years, bringing us musical icons, The Beatles, as well as a slew of renowned actors, writers, sportsmen and poets. Among their ranks, you will find such high-profile figures as Daniel Craig, Jodie Comer, Kim Cattrall and Wayne Rooney.
With such a proud cultural heritage, it’s not surprising that Liverpool City Council made successful bids in 2021 for government funding to revitalise its waterfront area. The money the council received went towards the development of a brand-new arts and culture museum, which would provide new jobs as well as a new source of annual revenue for the city. Some of the funding was also dedicated to Liverpool-based projects overseen by the Tate and National Museums Liverpool.
Most recently on the cultural front, the Liverpool City Council has made an application to the government for funding to redevelop the city’s historic Great Homer Street Market. The Council are hoping to receive approximately £20 million, which would be used to expand the market into vacant buildings located in the Everton area and Scotland Road.
It is hoped that this expansion project will allow the market to make extra room for new traders and convert it into what the Council describes as a ‘community market’.
Great Homer Street has long been an object of the Council’s interest, with various developments already being made to the area over the course of the past few years. These include a new Sainsbury’s supermarket and a retail park. However, the Council doesn’t plan to stop with the redevelopment of the market, as they have made it known that they also plan to make other positive changes to the area. These alterations will be mainly concerned with accessibility, with the aim being to build a new crossing and provide better ‘connectivity’. However, some housing renovations have also been mentioned as a possibility.
At the same time as the Council submitted their bid for funding to expand the Great Homer Street Market, they also made a second bid – also for the maximum allowance of £20 million – which they plan to pour into the Paddington South Innovation Zone. Their goal here is to provide added funding for the life science and materials chemistry sectors currently based in that zone.
With such grand plans in the pipeline, it seems clear that Liverpool City Council is keen to funnel as many funds as they can into bolstering various aspects of the city’s economic and cultural foundations. However, they have also been approving various other projects as well over the last few months.
Expansions in the Healthcare Sector
The woeful state of mental health care across the UK has been well-documented over the last few years and is particularly troubling given the results of a survey undertaken by Mental Health Foundation panel members in 2017. This survey revealed that two-thirds of people said they have suffered from a mental health problem. On top of that, a quarter of them have experienced panic attacks and more than 4 out of 10 had struggled with depression.
Fortunately, for anyone in Liverpool who is struggling with acute mental health, higher standards of care will be provided in the near future as the Council has approved plans for a new mental health facility. This dedicated unit will be built on the grounds of the former Mossley Hill Hospital and will consist of four 20-bed wards. The facility will consolidate the services that were previously provided by Broadgreen Hospital’s Broadoak Unit and Toxteth’s Windsor House, providing a central hub where patients suffering from severe mental health problems can find care and assistance.
The dental health needs of the citizens of Liverpool are also being catered for with another approved development – this time of a dental surgery situated on Allerton Road. The plan is to extend the current dental surgery by adding two new rooms, incorporating the vacant property next door. Applicant, Dr Arif Khan, explained that the expansion would bring the empty property ‘back to life’ and Councillor Tony Concepcion explained that the development would bring ‘positive benefits’ to local residents.
Last but not least on the medical front, Liverpool will soon be gaining an impressive new hospital to provide a wide range of medical services to the city’s inhabitants. The Royal Liverpool Hospital has certainly been a long-awaited project, having originally been scheduled to open five years ago. Unfortunately, the hospital’s construction has been plagued with problems, which were only discovered after the company originally hired to do the building work – Carillion – folded.
Among these defects, it was found that the building had several worrying fractures in a few of its concrete beams. It was also discovered that a similar cladding to the one that had been used in Grenfell Tower had been employed in the construction of the hospital, which meant that the building did not meet appropriate fire safety standards.
Perhaps most troubling of all, however, was the requirement of new steel transfer beams to take some of the strain off the existing concrete beams that made up the hospital’s transfer structure. This was a major undertaking for the new contractor, Laing O’ Rourke, and has set back the hospital’s opening date several years.
However, it now looks set to open its doors to the public sometime in October 2022 and will represent one of the biggest, priciest, but indisputably beneficial construction projects to transform Liverpool’s cityscape in recent years.
Building new opportunities for Liverpool youth
As well as building gleaming new constructions to revitalise the city, making use of existing structures is a big part of changing Liverpool’s fabric for the better.
Among the various heart-warming projects waiting in the wings is the transformation of a former youth club into a new cutting-edge community centre that will benefit local residents.
Located in New Ferry, the Bebington Youth Centre had been a focal point of the community for 6 decades, before becoming too old, outdated and little used to be of much good. However, it is now poised for an exciting £1 million facelift which will transform it into a state-of-the-art community centre with a range of top-notch facilities.
These will include a community café, a gym, a youth club and all-weather 3G five-a-side football pitches where eager young footballers can gain confidence and experience.
This project has been in the pipeline since 2016 when local residents met with Council representatives to discuss how the building could best be used to benefit the community. The Council will be paying the majority of the £1 million bill for the renovations, while Sports England will pick up the rest of the costs.
According to Janette Williamson, of Wirral Council, Bebington youth club has been part of community life in New Ferry for 60 years. Generations of local people have used the building, and many have fond memories and a personal connection with the place.
“This work reflects those strong local links and brings new and much better facilities to what is one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the whole country. The comprehensive improvement works and the new facilities are expected to make the centre much more financially and environmentally sustainable and will complement the wider regeneration of New Ferry.”
Liverpool’s take on tall buildings
Arguably Liverpool’s most iconic construction is the Grade I listed Royal Liver Building, which recently underwent redevelopment and now plays host to a variety of amenities, including a gym, bar, coffee shop and restaurant, as well as plenty of office space.
While the Royal Liver Building’s fortunes are of great interest to Liverpool’s residents, particularly those who may be eyeing up its available office units, tall buildings, in general, are very much the focus of the city’s Council.
In fact, they have compiled a Tall Buildings Supplementary Planning Document, which is to be taken into consideration by any developers who may be applying for planning permission for a tall building – be it a block of flats or offices. The goal is to set out a framework for where tall buildings will be most appropriate and also lays out guidelines for how they should be built in order to remain in keeping with the Liverpudlian skyline.
Since Liverpool sadly lost its World Heritage status in 2021, the city is now more likely to receive planning applications for taller buildings. In particular, it is thought that the city’s central business district could play host to buildings of up to 50 storeys. Meanwhile, the Council has already approved plans for numerous towers of 30 storeys and more in Liverpool’s Peel L&P’s Liverpool Waters area.
However, despite these new developments, it is clearly a priority for the Council to preserve as much of Liverpool’s architectural heritage as possible and to prevent too many skyscrapers and other new developments from detracting from those remarkable sites. As such, the Council’s Supplementary Planning Document explains,
“While the city has recently lost its World Heritage Site status, the significance of various heritage assets contained within the rescinded designation remains undiminished”.
The document goes on to explain that: “It is therefore imperative to continue to protect the city’s mercantile heritage and key waterfront, panoramic and city views and the setting of associated listed buildings and conservation areas remain valid considerations.”
Providing essential facilities for construction in Liverpool
As you can see, construction in Liverpool is booming, with various new buildings and renovations going on that will bring new life and industry to the city.
If you are a contractor currently working in or around Liverpool, you may be keen to embrace the city’s verve for development and resurgence.
However, there are a number of things to bear in mind when it comes to managing a construction site in Liverpool. As well as taking into account the building work itself, you also need to make sure you provide a pleasant and productive working environment for your employees. This will not only ensure that your construction workers are comfortable, but it is also required by law, as you need to make sure you meet all of the necessary Health and Safety regulations.
Part of these regulations will pertain to the welfare and toileting requirements of your construction workers, particularly on a longer building project. According to these regulations, you need to provide ‘suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences’ at ‘readily accessible places’. You also need to make sure that these facilities are kept ‘in a clean and orderly condition’.
In order to help you with this, here at LetLoos we provide a range of top-quality portable toilets in Liverpool, specially designed for use on construction sites. Not only are they HSE-compliant, but they will also be regularly serviced, and we offer competitive rates to provide value-for-money on longer construction projects.
Among our selection of toilets for construction sites, we offer standard portable toilets, hot wash toilets, and mains-connected toilets. We also provide mobile shower units and welfare units, which are ideal for construction sites as they include toileting facilities and other amenities such as kettles and microwaves. We will even provide a complimentary box of biscuits to provide some extra motivation for your employees!
Whatever portable toileting facilities you are looking to hire for your construction site, we are more than happy to help. Don’t hesitate to contact us by dialling 0800 368 8373 or fill out our quick and easy online form for an instant quote.
