A £50m transformation of one of the University of Liverpool’s key residential campuses, in leafy south Liverpool, has been announced.
It ends fears among locals that it would be flogged off for housing, which would have raised millions of pounds for the uni.
But the university today confirmed it plans to redevelop, rather than sell its Greenbank residential, commercial and sports facility.
The site occupies 23 acres in the Sefton Park conservation area, 2.5 miles to the south of the main city centre campus.
The redevelopment will involve a mixture of demolition and new-build as well as refurbishment. One of the buildings to be refurbished is Grade II* listed and there is another historic building highlighted for sensitive treatment in the heritage assessment.
Carnatic
The new-build will cost around £50m, refurbishment £4m and sports facility £4m. The works will be phased to allow continuous use of the canteens currently located at the site. There are currently 915 bedrooms in two halls: Derby & Rathbone, and Gladstone & Roscoe.
The fate of the site has been the subject of speculation for many years, with rumours that the university would sell the land to private residential house builders and move students into the city centre.
The nearby Carnatic Halls, in the prime residential area of Mossley Hill, are also in need of refurbishment but the university is understood to be tackling Greenbank before making a decision about whether to redevelop or sell that site.
The university is now procuring a design team to develop the Greenbank project brief into design proposals within the available build budgets and to secure the required consents.
All appointments will be for the full delivery of the scheme to be delivered under a joint contracts tribunal form of contract.
A shortlist of between five and eight design teams will be announced in due course.
The deadline for expressions of interest is July 8. The procurement is being managed through the In-tend online system.
