Liverpool's Copperas Hill design team announced

A team of external consultants have now been confirmed for Liverpool’s John Moores University redevelopment on the old Royal Mail sorting office on Copperas Hill.

The university bought the site for £2.6 million back in 2011, when Royal Mail closed it down after 33 years of operation and moved 600 jobs to Warrington.

Since then another £730k was paid for nearby land behind the Adelphi Hotel, all of which will now be turned into a centre for John Moores’ 37 university buildings which are scattered around the city as things stand.

The design team has been appointed through a rigorous competitive tender process led by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Nigel Weatherill who comments: “This is an extremely important milestone in our journey towards creating our ambitions for the connected university village.

“The Copperas Hill site is the catalyst that will help us to transform the spaces we occupy across the city and I am delighted that we have a professional design team who are not only exceptional in their ability but who each share our vision for creating a city campus that will become an exemplar on a world–wide scale.”

Working alongside the leads in the Liverpool John Moores University Estate Management team, Mark Askem and Richard Pinnington, will be the following: Project managers, Christal Management; Architects, BDP with lead architect Sue Emms; Cost Consultants & Employers Agent, Sweett Group; Civil & Structural Engineers, Curtins: Building Services Engineers, Arup.

The Copperas Hill redevelopment will be led by Sue Emms, an Architect Director from BDP’s Manchester studio. Sue has worked at BDP since graduating from Sheffield University in 1999 and has become BDP’s Education Sector lead in the North.

Sue says: “This is a hugely exciting and unique project, which has the ability to transform a redundant city centre building, regenerate a city quarter and create a vibrant, student-focused heart for LJMU.”

Copperas Hill will be the heart of the University and a front door to the Knowledge Quarter of the city. It will be pivotal in the regeneration of the area surrounding Lime Street resulting in the creation of improved streetscapes, upgraded highways, landscaping and new open spaces.

The University plans to submit a full planning application for the scheme in the summer of 2015 with a view to starting work onsite early in 2016. Parts of the building should to be operational for the 2017/18 academic year and the full site operational in 2018.

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →