Assurances over the future of the Littlewoods building are needed after residents were “bruised” by a number of false starts.
That was the claim made by Cllr Liam Robinson as members of Liverpool Council’s strategic development and housing committee were given an update on the progress of three of the city’s major projects.
The first phase of work is underway to redevelop the iconic building into a 260,000 square feet TV and film studio, media and creative complex an expectation that ground will be broken later this year.
Developers Capital&Centric are delivering the project in partnership with Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Liverpool Council.
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Cllr Robinson, Kensington and Fairfield ward member, said the property had “huge potential to say a lot about the confidence of the city.”
He added: “There have been a number of false starts over the last 20 years and locals have been bruised by it.
“This is a statement building for the whole city on the Edge Lane corridor.”
Mark Bousfield, strategic director for city development, told the committee that discussions were going well around the site and a grant funding agreement had been agreed.
He added that with inflation on the rise, there was a need to “keep a lid on construction costs.”
The first phase of work, covering survey, investigation, remediation and design works, will be funded by a £7.1m grant from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
A further report on progress will go before the council’s cabinet in September updating on progress.
Cllr Christine Banks said it was vital that the local authority engaged with the UK Government to stress the importance of the project, which she claimed had the potential to create thousands of jobs.
She said: “We’re creating something here.
“We really need to push this through, it’s not just 100 jobs, its thousands of very important jobs it will create.”
Mr Bousfield said it was not possible to over-promise on the scheme and said it would go a long way to winning credibility back for the city.
He added that there is “ginormous” demand to film in the city and Liverpool was well placed to capitalise on the growing market.
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