First major contract awarded for Liverpool’s Central Village scheme
Developers have awarded the first major construction contract in Liverpool’s £200m Central Village scheme.
Joint venture partners, Merepark and Ballymore, joined the McGee Group on a £7m design and build 459-space, Q-Park multi-storey car park at the site, which is bounded by Bold Street and Renshaw Street.
Work will begin in the summer and is scheduled for completion in June, 2011.
The announcement follows the news Bouwfonds European Real Estate Parking Fund has agreed to forward purchase of the multi-storey car park, which will be operated by Q Park under a 35-year lease.
Ian Jones, director at Merepark, said: “These announcements are a clear sign of the continued momentum at Central Village. After years of careful planning, negotiation and acquisitions it will be very satisfying to see our plans begin to come to fruition.
“We’re now looking forward to seeing the first phases of Central Village emerge.”Central Village will extend Liverpool’s retail and leisure core with a cinema, two new hotels, an apart-hotel, residential apartments and public parking as well as retail outlets, restaurants, bars, cafes, offices and extensive new public spaces.
The development will also see the complete refurbishment of the iconic Lewis’s building and extensive improvement works to Liverpool Central Station.
The scheme will be knitted together by four substantial new public spaces, including a plaza with a boardwalk and water feature, designed by US landscape architect Martha Schwartz.
McGee is a family business which has been operating successfully in London for more than 50 years.
The group recently completed a multi-phase development at Stables Market in the world-famous Camden Market, transforming the site. In 2009, the company opened a North West office in Lymm, Cheshire.
Chris Wright, head of business development at McGee Group, said: “McGee Group has been working with Merepark for a long time in preparation for this project, and we are delighted to be getting started on phase one of the development.
“Work on site will start very soon.”
The car park includes the creation of an enhanced public link between Bold Street and Renshaw Street and is sited at the top end of Bold Street. It will provide additional parking for Bold Street and the Ropewalks, as well as for Central Village.
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