A team of experts led by Levitt Bernstein has been tasked by Liverpool City Council to devise a plan to revitalise the Pumpfields area. The vision aims to attract investment, transforming the 75-acre zone around Leeds Street on the edge of the city centre into a vibrant residential-led, mixed-use neighbourhood.
This development is considered crucial in supporting the recently announced New Town Taskforce submission, which spans 5km across north Liverpool into Sefton. The Pumpfields team aims to engage with local stakeholders to create a masterplan that caters to the community's needs, delivering a high-quality space for living, working, and leisure.
Key objectives include identifying development opportunities, establishing design guidelines, reinforcing policy frameworks, repurposing existing buildings, and enhancing public spaces, connections, and infrastructure. This initiative seeks to reconnect the city centre with north Liverpool via the Leeds Street corridor, breathing new life into the area.
This comes amidst concerns about stalled developments in the area, including the Infinity Waters project on Leeds Street, which has been on hold since 2019 and was recently described as a "sorry sight". The council has stated its commitment to preventing further development sites around the city from stalling.
Once the masterplan for the Pumpfields area is finalised, the local authority plans to adopt it as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), which will guide all future developments in the region. The local authority is optimistic that the rejuvenation of Pumpfields could transform this long-neglected area into a vibrant new community, enhancing connectivity with the city centre and waterfront, and informing the New Town scheme's progress, reports .
This plan follows Liverpool City Council's recent visionary bid submission to the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government for New Town status, aiming to expand the city's northern fringe into Bootle. In collaboration with Sefton Council, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Homes England, and key landowners, Liverpool City Council has outlined a 10-year vision for the area.
This partnership could revitalise communities affected by high deprivation levels, unlocking their economic potential for the coming decades. New Town status is a designation given to º£½ÇÊÓƵ areas undergoing significant redevelopment, often characterised by a mix of old and new housing, commercial spaces, and infrastructure.
Liverpool City Council's cabinet member for growth and development, Councillor Nick Small, said: "The Pumpfields area is a vitally important part of our vision to expand out from the city centre into North Liverpool."
He added that the area, which has been overlooked in the past, is now ripe for regeneration with the emergence of the New Town plan.
"Pumpfields is ripe for the type of regeneration that will redraw and reshape its economic and housing landscape for the rest of this century," he added.
"I welcome the appointment of this team of placemaking experts. This area deserves a plan that befits our ambitions to grow the city and to knit the Commercial District through to Ten Streets and Liverpool Waters. The vision is to build a place where people can live, work, and play. We want to create a community where everyone feels at home.
"This project is about more than just bricks and mortar. It's about creating opportunities for people, whether it's through new jobs, better schools, or improved transportation. We're building for the future, creating a sustainable community that will be a great place to live for generations to come."
Levitt Bernstein's architect and director Jo McCafferty said: "We are absolutely delighted to have won this vital commission to work with Liverpool City Council and the Pumpfields and Lime Kilns community to develop a ground-breaking and deliverable vision for such a strategic neighbourhood in Liverpool North. A vision which reactivates this key quarter in Liverpool, to stitch it back into the wider area, reintroduces crucial connections to the city centre and supports site specific, mixed-use development and re-uses heritage buildings and structures, is absolutely at the heart of this project.
"Our team brings international experience alongside deep local knowledge and commitment to Liverpool. It is the dream commission and we have hit the ground running already this year."
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