Liverpool City Region’s (LCR) combined authority is to reaffirm its commitment to redevelopment of the iconic Littlewoods building despite a major blow hitting the project.
The future of the scheme was plunged into doubt when Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) confirmed this week that it would no longer act as one of the anchor tenants of the £70m ambition to create one of the country’s biggest TV and film complexes. However, the combined authority is standing firm behind the Edge Lane proposals with £8m to be invested in remediation and design works.
A report put forward to be discussed by the city region authority next week said redevelopment of the former Littlewoods Building “aims to create an internationally significant, 260,000 square foot film studio, commercial, creative employment, and educational space. This would enhance the City Region’s reputation in culture and creativity, generate jobs across a range of skills levels and provide opportunities for the City Region's growing creative and digital cluster.”
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The document said while the university has confirmed its withdrawal, it remains “committed to supporting the project in future as part of the wider creative and digital skills ecology of the City Region.” The combined authority first signed off on a package of funding in July 2020, with a follow up assessment conducted in June 2021.
It set out that following delivery of two pop-up studios on the Edge Lane site, called the Depot, progress would move forward on Littlewoods with the £8m investment and a main development phase. The main report, to be discussed by the combined authority next Friday, said that Capital and Centric would act as developer but “the main risks associated with the project such as ultimate development costs and benefits (rental income) are likely to fall principally to the public sector.”
Should the main development phase be unable to proceed, including the inability to find a replacement tenant for the university, the arrangements in place allow for Liverpool Council to gain control of the site for future development. The report stressed that while risks have increased with the decision by LJMU to pull out of the project, “demand for studio space in Liverpool has been demonstrated and the project presents the only opportunity in the short term to progress with the redevelopment of the site.”
It is thought, should the project be able to go ahead, more than 740 jobs could be directly created and deliver a “significant economic impact” on the wider area.
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