The Liverpool Waters project is poised to "change the city's skyline" with "exciting" skyscraper plans in 2025, per the development's director. Touted as an "ambitious 30-year vision to completely transform the city's northern docks", the massive £5bn development initiative is spearheaded by property conglomerate Peel, stretching 2.3km along the River Mersey's banks.
Split into five distinct zones—Central Docks, Clarence Docks, King Edward Triangle, Princes Dock, and Northern Docks—the sweeping transformation will see the area from Liverpool city centre's north boundary extending to Bramley-Moore Dock, where Everton FC has erected their new stadium. .
The aim is to rejuvenate Liverpool's north docks, historically an industrial hub, with various residential, commercial, and cultural ventures. Granted outline planning permission in 2013, considerable headway has been observed since then.
This includes commercial and residential projects surrounding Princes Dock, a newly opened sauna, and this year's launch of the Isle of Man Ferry Terminal.
Moreover, over 200 homes have materialised in Central Docks since inception, but the lion's share of completed work is manifest in Princes Dock, delineating the initial phase of the extensive Liverpool Waters, reports .
Everton Football Club is set to move into their new stadium for the 2025/26 season, and significant developments are expected at Central Docks and King Edward Triangle. The Central Docks project, backed by government funding and with contractors GRAHAM on site, and King Edward Triangle, earmarked for a cluster of skyscrapers, are both poised for progress.
Chris Capes, development director of Liverpool Waters, discussed the advancements made so far and what's next for Liverpool Waters in 2025. He said: "From our perspective, there has been a huge amount that has happened in the northern docklands this year, particularly two main projects that sit within the Northern Docks and Central Docks area. The Isle of Man Ferry Terminal, which opened earlier this year and is now the main connection between the north of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ and the Isle of Man. That's a project that the Isle of Man has been delivering and we've been supporting them - it's fantastic for them and means they can move from their existing plot down on the Pier Head."
"Everton's stadium is also a huge one. Being built by Everton, that's a huge project for the city and one that's an absolute game changer for us. It just switches the focus to that northern part of the docks."
"From our point of view, there have been a couple of big announcements as well. We got planning last year for Central Docks, which is 2,350 homes in that area just north of Jesse Hartley Way, sitting just off Regent Road."
"That's further delivery of the park (a new public park called Central Park located in Central Docks), the infrastructure, the public realm, continuing the riverside promenade further north. It doesn't quite get up to Everton at this point but it takes you quite a bit further north."
"Important for us is now how we then deliver that with the announcement by the new Labour government of funding from Homes England. It's a project we've been working on for quite a few years but it's fantastic that the Labour government and the Treasury made that announcement and reiterated it around the budget."
"Our focus now is to get that on-site next year and to actually start on-site and get the delivery of the infrastructure next year to create those development plots."
Central Docks, the largest neighbourhood within Liverpool Waters and the city's biggest brownfield site, received full planning approval for preparation work from Liverpool City Council in March 2023. The plans for Central Docks include establishing a 4.7 acre public park named 'Central Park', implementing infrastructure to accommodate approximately 2,350 new homes, and introducing new residential and commercial developments, as well as a new cultural building.
In her inaugural address as Chancellor, Rachel Reeves declared the Labour government's commitment to addressing so-called "stalled sites" to facilitate new housing developments and economic growth. Central Docks was identified by Ms Reeves as one such site, which subsequently received £56 million in government funds with contractor GRAHAM recently beginning phase one.
Speaking of Ms Reeves' assessment and the future of Central Docks, Mr Capes told the ECHO: "I don't share the stalled sites moniker. We're a huge scheme of three decades and these things take a long time. They take a long time to secure planning for, they take a long time to fund."
"Pace is important to us and that move into Central Docks has been huge. That's what it's taken a long time to get to. We've certainly been working on it for the best part of three and a half years and then there will be a delivery period roughly similar to that. These projects do take a lot of time."
"That's partly due to the complicated nature of the site. We're dealing with what was a former dock site that had a coal-fired power station on it until the 1980s, it has a lot of underlying ground infrastructure but a requirement for infrastructure to be delivered in that location."
"We probably wouldn't say it was stalled in the way that some other sites in the city have been stalled or are highlighted as stalled and the council are working on bringing those sites forward."
"I accept that the pace thing is an important thing and that's why we've focussed on bringing that Central Docks part of the city forward. From a delivery pace perspective, that will take probably eight to ten years to deliver out, so 2,500 homes and at the same time we will be working on those neighbourhoods further north - that Clarence Dock neighbourhood and the Northern Docks neighbourhood."
With the future firmly in mind, Peel L&P put forth a revised proposal for Liverpool Waters in July. This update takes into account Everton FC's selection of Bramley-Moore Dock as their potential new stadium site since the stadium was not part of the initial plans; it sees the inclusion of a 52,000-seat football stadium as part of the redevelopment project, altering to accommodate shifts in working habits and transport trends.
The refreshed masterplan also features multiple waterfront hotels.
Before the masterplan's revision in March, the Liverpool Waters initiative witnessed collaboration between the company behind Home Bargains and the developer responsible for Liverpool's tallest building to purchase the former industrial site within the King Edward Triangle area. Presently home to several hospitality businesses, TJ Morris and Beetham Organisation are poised to create an iconic high-rise construction at this location.
Mr Capes highlighted the significance of the King Edward Triangle investment, declaring confidently: "It will change the skyline, definitely."
"We're part of two tall building clusters within Liverpool - King Edward Triangle is one of them and the development in Princes Dock has been quite tall, I think the Lexington is 33 storeys. Central Docks has a secondary tall building cluster within it. From the Wirral, as you look over and from other parts of the city, it will change the skyline."
"From a development point of view, we're as keen as anybody to move on at pace. We are working with development partners who we know well and who we have worked with before, who will come on board and start to bring forward plots in Central Docks. Some of which we will deliver with them, some they will deliver themselves."
"We're very keen to move forward at a pace. It's got to be a pace that can be absorbed in the city as well. You can't build 1,000 houses every year for ten years within one site and expect that take-up to happen instantly, so there's a balance between needs."
"But we know there are a lot of needs within Liverpool for residential. From our perspective, it's about delivering different typologies as well. Yes, there will be quite a lot of apartments within the scheme, but there will be townhouses, maisonettes, we've got some lovely plots along the dock wall that will deliver some really, really nice lower-level housing."
Looking ahead to 2025, Mr Capes expressed: "Getting on-site in Central Docks next year is going to be a big thing for us. GRAHAM is on-site doing a lot of survey and design work for us. That will be completed early next year and we want to be on site in the middle of the year."
He added: "Then there is TJ Morris and Beetham on King Edward Triangle. We know they're really keen and they'll be bringing forward a lot of planning applications over the next 12 months. That's quite exciting."
