A former girls' school site could house a major new multi storey building as part of Liverpool’s growing innovation district.
Sciontec, which owns and manages Liverpool Science Park, has lodged plans to construct a new eight storey building on land formerly used by Archbishop Blanch Girls School in Paddington Village. Proposals put forward to Liverpool Council said the firm would seek to construct a facility to provide office space across seven floors for research and development.
A co-working area and wellness studio have also been slated as part of the proposition put forward by Sciontec, which will be considered by councillors on Tuesday at Liverpool Town Hall. A report as part of the planning application, has detailed how the seven-storey building would be in a “cleared and vacant highly prominent plot located within a central position on the northern periphery of Paddington Village (Central), adjacent to Mount Vernon Road.”
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It had been previously occupied by Archbishop Blanch school until it relocated in 2015 and would sit alongside major developments including The Spine, a 14-storey building occupied by the Royal College of Physicians, the 17-storey Novotel Hotel, the 13-storey ‘live-learn’ facility of University of Liverpool International College, the Rutherford Cancer Centre, and a 1,250 space multi-storey car park. While no additional parking will be provided, more than 160 cycle spaces would be available as part of the development.
The proposed building would also alter the future relationship of Novotel and the RCP ‘Spine’ buildings with the public square, it is said. The building on Plot 10 (Novotel) was intended to mark the north-western corner of the public square and is also highlighted within the Paddington SRF masterplan as being a landmark structure.
As originally intended, in addition to being visually prominent externally to Paddington Village, this landmark building would also have been prominently visible from the Public Square, with the hotel having a direct relationship and interface with the public realm at this point. By bringing the new building forward into the square, the prominence of the Novotel building from the square is reduced as it would be perceived as sitting behind the new development rather than marking the north-western corner of the square.
Consideration had been given to how the proposed new site would affect the visual impact of listed buildings including the city’s historic cathedrals. Officers have deemed the plans suitable and have recommended it for approval when councillors meet next week.
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