New Boutique Hotel for Liverpool’s Queen Square
A Grade II-listed building in Liverpool’s Queen Square will be converted into a 43-bed boutique hotel under new plans proposed by Liverpool developer, Promenade Estates.
No 2 Queens Square is already a noteworthy building, known for overlooking St Johns Gardens, being designed by Alfred Waterhouse, being the formed regional headquarters and (perhaps most famously) being the location of the popular historic public house ‘Dr. Duncans’ which will remain unaffected by the scheme.
Promenade Estates aleady has its own headquarters in the building which was at the centre of the original regeneration of Queen Square in the mid-1990s, a project which helped kick-start Liverpool’s enduring economic renaissance.
No 2 Queen Square which is to be converted into a boutique hotel
If granted planing consent, the scheme would be the fifth hotel in the region developed by the Promenade team. Promenade chairman Peter Hynd said:
“It’s the perfect location for a high-quality boutique offering. Those who visit the city for its architecture and culture will love the Alfred Waterhouse link and the fact that the Walker Art Gallery is over the road.
“We understand the regional hotel market and also the operational issues, having been active investors in all our hotel properties.”
The building’s original refurbishment was undertaken by the Liverpool studio of Falconer Chester Hall (FCH), which has been retained to design the new hotel. Alastair Shepherd from FCH added:
“We know the building intimately and it’s been an enjoyable challenge re-casting it for hotel use. It’s elegant and contemporary and we’ll be sharing our design in due course.”
The award-winning mixed-use Queen Square development is acknowledged as having transformed Liverpool’s appeal to occupiers and institutional investors in the late 1990s, ultimately leading to the hugely successful Liverpool One project.
The proposed redevelopment follows a spate of recent disposals by Promenade, including the fully-let Marine Point development in New Brighton to Aprirose, the Ramada Plaza leisure scheme in Southport to Bliss Estates and a major waterfront residential scheme overlooking Liverpool’s Albert Dock to Vista Fund. Promenade managing director Daniel Hynd added:
“We are putting our resources to good use and are actively seeking regeneration and redevelopment opportunities across the North West”
Curtins is engineer on the project. And, in addition to design, FCH is managing the planning application.