A major development at Liverpool’s historic Festival Gardens site is expected following years of preparatory works.
The project is set to be one of the largest in the north and initially proposed in the region of 1,500 new homes on derelict land between Dingle and Otterspool. However these plans were shelved in 2022 with Liverpool City Council confirming that it was going back to the drawing board.
The authority had previously entered into an exclusivity agreement with development firm Ion which had produced a draft residential masterplan for the site. But this agreement expired in March 2021 with the council announcing that it was to carry out an almost year-long review of the site.
READ MORE: How Liverpool's 'Festival Gardens' ward faces a fight to bloom again
In September last year, following the review, Liverpool City Council revealed that it was looking to move forward with a development partner to help complete the major project. It has now been revealed by the authority it is seeking to appoint a multidisciplinary consultant team to assist the council in preparing a development brief for the residential-led redevelopment of Festival Gardens.
According to Liverpool City Council, the brief will set out the local authority’s aspirations to create a “thriving, sustainable, healthy and inclusive new neighbourhood" for south Liverpool with a “strong identity and sense of community.” The development partner opportunity is now being advertised.
Work to remediate 22-acres of the site, which previously served a theme park, cultural attraction and landfill, is nearing completion after a complex two-year excavation programme. This work has seen the derelict land – which hadn’t been touched for 25 years – completely excavated, removing more than 380,000 cubic metres of soil and waste.
The preparation works have however come at a huge cost for the overall project. Since works to clear the site start its costs have spiralled to over £60m without a single house being built.
While the original masterplan for the site was to build 1,500 new homes, last month the ECHO learnt that the new amount of homes will not be as high as the 1,500 first touted. While the number is expected to be lower, no official figure can be given until a new developer is chosen for the site later this year.
Work is not expected to begin on construction until 2025 once a partner and developer has been chosen, subject to relevant planning approvals.
Liverpool’s Cabinet Member for Growth and Economy, Councillor Nick Small, said: “This is a major step forward in transforming this iconic location and bringing to life our vision of creating a brand new community, with a range of housing types and tenures, ancillary facilities and a high-quality, desirable public realm area.
“The work undertaken to date to reach this milestone should not be underestimated, but our focus has been on getting everything right as we need to future-proof this land and make sure it’s fit for purpose for generations to come.
“We look forward to moving on to the next phase and taking a step closer to this game-changing development.”