Fresh bid to build new homes on former Bogans Carpets site

Yet another set of proposals to build hundreds of apartments on a former carpet shop site in the Baltic Triangle have been lodged with Liverpool Council.

For years, countless developers have come and gone in an attempt to build new homes on the site of the former Bogans Carpets plot on New Bird Street. As recently as September 2022, a plan for American-style co-living apartments was knocked back by the city council and planning inspectorate.

Now, designs for 194 new living spaces in a tower block up to 10 storeys high will go before the local authority’s planning department for consideration.

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Applicant Ascot Luxury Living Limited has submitted a proposal for the location in the Baltic which would include commercial space and coworking access. Currently, the existing warehouse is being used as a gym for an amateur boxing club following a grant of planning permission in February 2016.

It had previously been occupied by Bogans Carpets warehouse building, service yard, and parking area. The remaining portion of the warehouse is vacant after the business relocated more than a decade ago.

According to a planning statement submitted by Ascot: “It is considered the site represents a highly sustainable location for development, due to its accessibility to public transport links and the City Centre.”

The existing warehouse would be demolished as part of the new designs to create the up to 10 storey tower. The planning statement said the first floor would include a communal roof terrace to provide outdoor green amenity space for residents with the majority of homes being one and two-bed apartments.

It is the latest scheme to be put forward for the site with numerous plans rejected or falling through since Bogans vacated. In September 2022 Crossland Ltd sought to provide 236 single occupancy co-living studios with associated communal space.

Co-living is a concept that originated in America with schemes granted planning permission in other UK cities, including London, Manchester and Bristol. After this was knocked back by the city council, the planning inspectorate backed local authority members in rejecting the plans.

Following a site visit to the New Bird Street location inspectors appointed by the government said “the proposed scheme conflicts with the development plan when taken as a whole. Other considerations do not outweigh this finding.”

A date has not been set for the new plans to be considered by the city council.

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