Motorists in the city centre will be familiar with a unique building on the corner of Old Hall Street and Leeds Street.
The building at 122 Old Hall Street is instantly recognisable for its curved mirrored glass façade - but it's long been a thing of mystery. The mirrored façade doesn't give any indication of what's inside and there's no obvious entrance to the building apart from roller shutter doors.
The three storey building was built in the 1980s by the Moores family for its Littlewoods Empire. The building was built to house Littlewoods' and later Shop Direct's servers to manage their online operations.
READ MORE: David Ungi suspected to be 'armed at all times' before Malaga arrest
When it was built Littlewoods had its headquarters in nearby tower block Sir John Moores House. Littlewoods' successor company, The Very Group, is now based in Speke and its former headquarters has been renamed The Plaza.
The building is no longer used as a live data centre and has been decommissioned. Birkenhead-based construction company Stredder Construction stripped out the building following the vacation of the building in 2018.
The building's glass façade is said to reflect light away from the building to keep it cool. Unconfirmed rumours recently shared on an online forum, Reddit, even said the building is built to withstand damage from a bomb blast.
Following the move to Speke the building was put up for sale and was bought for over £3m by business partners Martin Wilcocks and Craig Blackwell. The two men, who owned developer companies Prospect Capital and Wilcocks & Wilcocks, put forward ambitious plans to build two high-rise blocks of flats on the site.
While the sale was going through Shop Direct still managed some of their online operations in the 32,000 sq ft complex - causing issues when the new owners of the land put in a planning application to begin work on the 27-storey 'Ovatus 1' building.
The two companies who bought the land submitted plans to Liverpool council to begin work in April 2017 but Shop Direct were worried dust and vibrations from building work could affect the data centre putting all their operations at risk.
The Ovatus I site now has planning permission from Liverpool City Council, for a 168-apartment block built over 27 storeys, after it was approved at the end of 2017. The site was put on the market in August 2020 by commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.
Speaking on behalf of the development vehicle behind the plans, Mr Wilcocks said at the time: "We initially bought the property as an investment opportunity but were always mindful of the high profile nature of this gateway site and the scope for a really impressive development. We have achieved planning permission for this flagship scheme and are now seeking a site sale or development partnership to take this forward."
The building currently stands empty while a new buyer for the prospective development site comes forward.
