Liverpool City Council’s cabinet has approved plans that could see around two million sq. ft of Grade A office space be made available.
Grade A office space is typically specified as being brand new or recently developed and possesses state-of-the-art facilities as well as excellent accessibility.
However, not everyone is completely on board with the proposals.
Liverpool Central Councillor Nick Small is one person who feels the investment made in the commercial district has potentially been misplaced.
He told JMU Journalism: “I’m not going to stand in the way of more Grade A office space in the city, what I would question is whether this is the priority – it should be for public sector investment.”
He added: “What perhaps I think we should be doing as a city is looking at what Liverpool does well; things like creative and digital, micro-sciences, the knowledge economy and investing into this, rather than just duplicating what Manchester does all the time.”
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So far, 12 suitable sites have been chosen for expansion. This includes buildings along Old Hall Street as well as Princes Dock.
As of now, only a few locations include the facilities, such as No. 4 St Paul’s Square, but that is said to be filling up.
The plans will also be in conjunction with a £200 million scheme that is already in place in Pall Mall, which will see 400,000 sq. ft of the offices introduced into the city.
Worthington Owen is one of the companies involved in the scheme. Mark Worthington, one of its directors, told JMU Journalism: “It will be enormously beneficial to Liverpool, by being able to attract serious investments as well as better jobs. There’s nothing more important, in my opinion, for the future of Liverpool.”