• Home
  • About Me
  • Our Venues
    • Signature Living
    • 30 James Street
    • Shankly Hotel
    • Arthouse Hotel
    • The Exchange Hotel
    • Alma de Cuba
  • Future Projects
  • Social Responsibility
  • News
  • Contact

Lawrence Kenwright

Menu
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Our Venues
    • Signature Living
    • 30 James Street
    • Shankly Hotel
    • Arthouse Hotel
    • The Exchange Hotel
    • Alma de Cuba
  • Future Projects
  • Social Responsibility
  • News
  • Contact
Home  /  30 James Street • Development Projects • Homepage • The Shankly Hotel  /  Taking Dereliction From Our Streets
liverpool hotel, liverpool accommodation,
20 January 2016

Taking Dereliction From Our Streets

Written by Lawrence Kenwright
30 James Street, Development Projects, Homepage, The Shankly Hotel developments, historic buildings, History, Liverpool Leave a Comment

It is well-known fact that Liverpool has more listed buildings than any other city outside of London, yet more of them are derelict and at risk than any other.

Many of these beautiful buildings have simply been left to rot, causing huge and unmanageable damage which is expensive to repair and in some cases irreversible.

It’s fair to say that Liverpool is on the crest of a wave; tourism in the city is booming with the city welcoming 57.6m visitors last year and was voted 3rd city in the world for the most visited city by Rough Guides. But sadly our commercial offering doesn’t offer the same hope and is arguably the lowest it has ever been. We have over 2.1 million square feet of empty office space in the centre of our city.

Restored Buildings

Thankfully, this issue with regard to our office occupancy levels has been veiled by the huge success that we are experiencing with the erection of many refurbished listed buildings that are now huge beacons attracting new guests to our city. These hotels include;

  • Signature living Hotel
  • 30 James Street
  • Titanic Hotel
  • The Aloft
  • The Double Tree
  • The Shankly
  • Ibis Dale Street

With the exception of The Shankly Hotel, all of the above have been derelict for many years and are now not only creating jobs but are also creating a lot of intrigue. Each and every one of these buildings is stepped in history, which make them a destination in themselves. Restoring these amazing and historic buildings breathes news life into the city and is so much better than new build properties which are more often than not, bland and boring. I’m more than happy to say that in recent years the restoration of historic buildings in Liverpool has increased and the number of new-build hotels has decreased.

30 James Street- Home of the Titanic
30 James Street- Home of the Titanic

The tourism industry in the city is absolutely booming, four years ago Liverpool had just over 2,400 beds with an average occupancy rate of 71%. There are now more than 7,500 beds reaching an average occupancy rate of 75% an increase of 4%, with weekend occupancy higher still. However, what we really need is to attract more companies to the city as a place of business to fill the hotel beds midweek.

But we can’t expect to maintain and expand our accommodation without the relevant investment. One of the main reasons Liverpool has found itself as a hub for property investors all over the world is due to the UK being seen as a ‘safe haven’ for investors. Especially as other countries are currently experiencing some economic difficulties.

The Shankly Hotel
The Shankly Hotel on Victoria Street

Liverpool’s Investment Potential

There are also a number of other factors which have contributed to the upsurge of property investors in Liverpool. In the capital city of London, market prices are increasing at an unprecedented rate year on year, meaning the return on investment isn’t as good as it could be. These investors have subsequently moved further north to cities such as Manchester and Liverpool. Manchester has become the capital of the North, boasting a huge commercial and tourism industry. The property market in Manchester is at its highest point, making the chances of finding a reasonably priced deal, very rare.

For this reason, Liverpool is now in the top five cities for property investment and development and is one of the most sought after cities in the UK. Overall, property values are still very low and we have an abundance of properties. From an investors point of view, Liverpool is the place to be. The cities popularity is increasing at a remarkable rate and the property market is rife with incredible investment opportunities offering safe and continuous investment.

Abandoned Buildings in Liverpool

In all of my 30 years in business, I have never known so many abandoned units being put up for sale. As the country and its banks have become more stable, they can afford to offload their liquidated assets which they viciously snatched from developers at the beginning of the recession. Unfortunately, I was one of those developers and believe this was a real catalyst in driving our economy even further into the mire.

Flickr/SteHLiverpool
Flickr/SteHLiverpool

Liverpool’s Mayor, Joe Anderson is widely known as a mayor who will help any investor or developer who wants to put their money into this great city. This message is one which should really resonate throughout the entire investment market, not only in Liverpool but also across the rest of the UK and the world. In order to gain more investment in our city, we must make the planning process much easier, this would only entice more investors and ultimately improve the development of Liverpool.

Lyceum Building, Bold Street / liverpoolecho.co.uk
Lyceum Building, Bold Street / liverpoolecho.co.uk

However, it has to be said that there are a number of buildings in our city which have listed status. Due to this, the owners of these buildings are not paying the rates and, therefore, do not have any desire to develop the sites. There are other methods that our conservation department could use which would help to reignite their desire to develop or even sell their properties to others who do wish to restore and develop them.

We do not want to be a city which is associated with dereliction and empty spaces, we have the opportunity to fight back and continue on the path which sets Liverpool as a major city in the UK and Europe for both leisure and business purposes. By making the city more accessible to developers and investors, I believe this can only have a positive effect on our plight of ripping dereliction from the streets of the city centre.

Lawrence Kenwright
Connect on Facebook Connect on Google+ Connect on Linkedin

Lawrence Kenwright is a Hotel operator and developer based in Liverpool city centre. When not redeveloping old icon buildings he likes to spend time with his family

 Previous Article My Failed Bid to Purchase India Buildings
Next Article   The Signature Living Story

Related Posts

  • What is Entrepeneurial Socialism and How Can it Save the UK?

    23rd May 2019
  • Signature Live Sessions - Liverpool music

    Signature Sessions | Bringing Something New to the Liverpool Music Scene

    21st March 2019
  • zero hour contract

    20 Questions with Lawrence Kenwright from Signature Living

    18th January 2019

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Download our brochure

Contact Us

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recent Posts

  • Liverpool, politically needs to start again
  • Together Stronger: An update on the George Best Hotel
  • Lawrence Kenwright’s Signature Living recovery plan “within weeks”
  • Navigating a business through Brexit, COVID and a hostile media
  • Changing the game with the North of England City Experience

Archives

  • January 2022
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • March 2021
  • August 2020
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • June 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • January 2014
  • November 2013

Categories

  • 30 James Street
  • Development Projects
  • Featured
  • Homepage
  • In the News
  • Signature Living
  • The Shankly Hotel
© Copyright 2018. Lawrence Kenwright | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy