355-bed student scheme set for go-ahead

Proposals for a 355-bed student accommodation scheme, a university education building, five commercial units and new public space in Liverpool city centre look set to be given the go-ahead.Carpenter Investments’ full planning application to demolish Hardman House and the Haigh Building on Hardman Street and replace it with a mixed-use scheme is due to be considered by Liverpool City Council’s planning committee on Tuesday, 19 September 2017. It wants to construct a five- to eight-storey L-shaped block with 51 student accommodation clusters containing 355 bed spaces in total, a five-storey Liverpool John Moores University education block providing 39,407 sq ft of floor space, 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 proposed public space is envisaged as “the centrepiece to the new development”, according to an accompanying design and access statement by L7 Architects. This could provide “an exciting place for people to gather with events such as food stalls, book sales, outdoor performance areas, Christmas markets and marquees for student open days and registration at the start of the academic years along with the year-round coffee shops and retail units in the ground floor”.The accommodation component would be aimed at students of both the University of Liverpool and LJMU.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.Ahead of the meeting, planning officers have recommended that the scheme should be approved.Meanwhile, Eloquent Global’s full planning application to construct a six-storey building and an eight-storey building on a vacant site allocated as being primarily for industrial use between Sefton Street and Caryl Street, near Brunswick station to the south of Liverpool city centre, is again scheduled to go before councillors. The BLOK Architecture-designed scheme comprises 147 one-bed apartments, 42 two-bed apartments and nine two-bed duplexes, as well as 6,189 sq ft of ground-floor office space and a communal courtyard.The proposal was deferred by the planning committee held on Tuesday, 29 August to allow the applicant to redesign the scheme to accommodate 5 per cent wheelchair-accessible units. Amended plans have since been submitted.Councillors have been advised to approve Eloquent Global’s revised scheme.