Developer Capital&Centric has announced it has begun work to prep Liverpool’s Littlewoods Building for restoration.
The company is working with Liverpool City Council as freeholder of the site and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority as funders.
Plans to turn the building into a film studio were first announced in 2017 but stalled when John Moores University pulled out of the project in October 2022.
Work was expected to get underway in late 2022 after Capital&Centric entered into a partnership with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Liverpool City Council to deliver the first phase of the £70 million regeneration project.
However, the company has now confirmed initial work has begun, with the first phase involving a comprehensive strip out of the buildings and securing their structural integrity, preparing them for repurposing and restoration.
The work, which is expected to run until next summer, will pave the way for main contractors to move in, with two new 20,000sq.ft studios for big budget productions the first to be constructed on the neighbouring land, said Capital&Centric.
John Moffat, joint managing director of Capital&Centric, said: “Whilst Liverpool is the UK’s most filmed location outside London, the city needs to keep upping the ante. Not only will The Littlewoods Project draw in productions, it will unlock opportunities in the creative sectors for locals for years to come. Having submitted detailed plans to Liverpool City Council last month, getting started on site is a major moment and the beginning of realising shared ambitions for the Littlewoods Project.
“There’s loads to be done before the main restoration can get going. The next six months will see an intensive period of remediation activity inside the iconic building, which will then pave the way for construction of the new build studios and Littlewoods’ re-birth as a cultural destination that Liverpool can rightly proud of.”
The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has committed up to £17 million to develop The Depot – two film and TV studios now open off Liverpool’s Edge Lane and managed by Liverpool Film Office – and larger studios in the adjacent Littlewoods building as part of a Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram’s vision to turn the city region into the “Hollywood of the North”.
