A 2.4ha regeneration project in a deprived area of Liverpool has taken a step forward with the granting of planning permission for community housing.
#DestinationBootle is a 2.4ha stretch along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal which social enterprise organisation SAFE Regeneration intends to transform into a live-work community space.
Architect Ellis Williams created the masterplan to provide over 100 new homes within a community-focused landscaped public realm linking the existing surrounding communities with the heritage canal frontage.
Accommodation will include family townhouses, one- and two-bed apartments and an 80-bed extra care facility, in a mixture of housing tenures that includes affordable and shared ownership.
Homes will be arranged around an 1,718 sq m purpose-built Hub Building and the pub, The Lock and Quay, which will be refurbished and extended to 700 sq m, incorporating B&B accommodation.
Indices of Deprivation place the neighbourhood among the worst 0.5% in the UK, with high levels of unemployment and crime, poor health, educational achievement and housing. The area is run down, with boarded-up buildings and derelict wasteground. Cramped terraces sit alongside industrial spaces, with few green spaces.
Brian McGorry, chair of the CIOB Liverpool Hub and associate with Rider Levett Bucknall, was part of the team overseeing the project management. The current SAFE site already houses workshops, studios, business incubation units and community arts programmes as well as its own microbrewery and community pub. It is also host to multiple community initiatives including the popular Bootle Music Festival.
