Team appointed on KQ Gateway – including Liverpool MIPIM partner K2 Architects

The partnership will now create a Spatial Regeneration Framework for the KQ Gateway, which covers more than 56 acres. It is hoping to form a draft masterplan for consultation towards the end of this year, which could be adopted by the council’s cabinet in early 2019.

Key issues will include how best to redevelop the Lime Street area around the Adelphi Hotel, Central Station and Mount Pleasant; dovetailing the proposals from Liverpool John Moores University at Copperas Hill; plans for the Fabric District and London Road; Merseytravel’s plans for Central Station and private sector schemes such as Circus Liverpool at the former Lewis’s building.

The team will also include a number of supporting consultants including Mott Macdonald on transport, GVA on property advisory services, Rob Burns on heritage and Enfusion on strategic environmental assessment.

The council recently acquired Central Station shopping centre and is overseeing public realm proposals for St George’s Plateau. It has also set out an ambition to redevelop the Mount Pleasant car park area.

KQ Liverpool is classed as a Mayoral Development Zone, with its main project on site being the £1bn Paddington Village scheme.

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: “The Knowledge Quarter Gateway is vital to this city’s economic future and such is the scale of its potential it will be a huge employer for generations to come.

“This gateway project is now the final piece in the jigsaw to connect the site to the rest of the city centre and complete the wider regeneration of Lime Street, Mount Pleasant and Brownlow Hill. Its impact cannot be underestimated.”

Mark Davies, director at K2 Architects, said: “The KQ Liverpool vision is for a new epicentre that will break down the historical boundaries and repurpose the magnificent heritage to reconnect the Gateway to the city, Knowledge Quarter and the waterfront. The KQ Gateway is about ambition, not acccepting the norm and going the extra mile.”

Once approved by the council’s cabinet, the SRF will be adopted as a Spatial Planning Document to guide all future planning applications in the area and provide developers with detailed information of design and build issues including height, scale and massing of buildings.

Colin Sinclair, chief executive of KQ Liverpool, who are also Liverpool at MIPIM partners concluded: “KQ represents one of the greatest development opportunities in the UK and, alongside Paddington Village, will have a major impact on the city’s economy, creating thousands of jobs, in science, tech, health, education, retail and leisure.

“The SRF will truly allow us to plan a world-class development, enabling Liverpool City Region to continue to compete with any city in Europe.”