355-bed student scheme earmarked for Liverpool

A 355-bed student accommodation scheme, a university education building, five commercial units, and new public space could soon be created in Liverpool city centre.Carpenter Investments has submitted a full planning application to Liverpool City Council to demolish Hardman House and the Haigh Building on Hardman Street. It then plans to construct interconnected blocks up to eight storeys high containing 51 student accommodation cluster apartments, a five-storey block providing 39,407 sq ft of higher education teaching facilities, 16,038 sq ft of ground-floor commercial units, and a new public square.Hardman House has had a range of uses over the years including as a base for the Salvation Army, overnight accommodation and nightclub, while the Haigh Building was formerly used by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU).The accommodation component would be aimed at students of both the University of Liverpool and LJMU. And the education facility element would be designed to meet the bespoke needs of the university partner.Hardman House is also the subject of a current planning application by the same client, which is pending determination, to demolish the existing building and construct a seven-storey building featuring 218 bedrooms in total.The proposed 355-bed scheme would represent a multimillion-pound investment into the city and provide more than 100 construction jobs, around 100 jobs in the education building, and 20 to 30 full-time jobs in the operation and management of the five commercial units. It is expected that phase one of the project would complete in the summer of 2018 with phase two finishing in the summer of 2019.